Top 10 Greatest Australian Cricketers of All Time – Stats, Records & Legacy

Australia are one of the most decorated teams in the history of cricket. While several teams have enjoyed dominating phase in the game before experiencing prolonged dips such as the West Indies, Australia have been a force to reckon with for effectively their entire cricketing journey so far.

No team has won more Tests or ODIs than them. They have won 422 Tests so far and a winning percentage of 48.11 while no other team has even managed to achieve a winning percentage of 40 so far. In ODIs, Australia have won 614 games and are the only team to have reached the 600-win mark.

They have also won the ODI World Cup a record six times including three in a row in addition to winning the T20 World Cup title and the World Test Championship once each. Unsurprisingly, they are widely regarded as the most successful cricket team of all time.

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This is exactly the reason why Australia consistently get such favourable odds on leading betting sites such as Sportsbet.io. They start most of the game as favourites thanks to their consistent displays over the years.

Here we are having a look at some of the greatest Australian cricketers of all time as they shaped Australian cricket's remarkable journey.

9. Frederick Spofforth

Such was Frederick Spofforth's impact with the ball that he was fondly called 'the Demon'. He was widely considered as Australia's first true fast-bowler. Spofforth enjoyed an illustrious career with his first-class career spanning from 1874 to 1897.

Spofforth is also the first-ever bowler to take 50 wickets and a hat-trick in Tests. Overall, he played 18 Tests and picked up 94 wickets including 7 five-wicket hauls. In first-class cricket, Spofforth picked up 853 wickets in 155 Tests.

8. Glenn McGrath:

Glenn McGrath is one of the most decorated bowlers of all time. He plied his trade in the game when the cricketing world witnessed some of the fastest fast-bowlers of all time. While the cricketing world was obsessed with express pacers such as Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Bond and others, McGrath showed that one can not only excel but become one of the greats by relying on line and length.

McGrath was a menace for batsmen around the world. There were hardly any batsmen in the world who could dominate him for long. At the time of his retirement, McGrath held the record for taking most Test wickets as a pacer. He picked up 563 wickets in 124 Tests at an average of 21.64.

His record in ODIs is equally impressive. He picked up 381 wickets in 250 games and was a part of the Australian team that won the World Cup in 1999, 2003 and 2007. He was also adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the 2007 World Cup for taking a record 26 wickets.

7. Allan Border:

Allan Border led Australia to their first-ever World Cup title in 1987 and went on to enjoy a glorious career in international cricket. He played a record 156 Tests before it was broken by his successor Steve Waugh. He also formerly held the world record for playing most consecutive Tests - 153.

The first batsman to reach 11000 Test runs, Border held the record for most Test runs at the time of his retirement before it was broken by Brian Lara in 2006. Border was also one of the 55 inaugural inductees of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Given his achievements in the game, it is only fitting that the most prestigious individual prize in Australian cricket is named after him.

6. Ricky Ponting:

Ricky Ponting is one of the greatest player of this century and is also one of the most decorated captains of all time. He is also one of the most prolific batsmen of all time.

Under Ponting's captaincy, Australia won the ODI World Cup in 2003 and 2007 in addition to winning the 2006 and 2009 Champions Trophy. He finished his illustrious career with 27,483 runs across formats including 71 tons.

5. Steve Smith:

Steve Smith is arguably the best Test batsman of his generation and is one of the greatest of all time. In fact, many also consider him the greatest Australian Test batsman after the legendary Don Bradman. What is remarkable about Smith's career is that he started it as a leg-spinner in 2010.

He struggled to make an impact with the ball and was dropped from the team. By the time, he was named the captain of the Australian Test team in 2015, he was the number one ranked Test batsman in the world. Smith scored heavily against all the oppositions irrespective of conditions. In Tests, he has more than 10000 runs including 36 centuries. In 2017, he reached an ICC Test batting rating of 947, the second-highest figure of all time, only behind Bradman's 961.

Smith has also managed to make an impact in other formats as well. He was a key member of the Australian team that won the World Cup in 2015 and 2023. In his illustrious career so far, Smith has also won several prestigious awards such as the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2015, ICC Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017 and ICC Men's Test Player of the Decade for 2011–2020. He also won the Allan Border Medal for the best player in Australian Cricket in 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023.

4. Dennis Lillee:

Dennis Lillee is one of the all-time greats when it comes to fast-bowlers. He terrorized batsmen with his sheer pace and his partnership with Jeff Thomson is still considered one of the best ever. Lillee was the highest wicket-taker in Tests at the time of his retirement. In 70 Tests, he picked up 355 wickets including 23 five-wicket hauls.

3. Adam Gilchrist:

Adam Gilchrist completely redefined the role of wicketkeeper-batsmen in international cricket after making his debut in international cricket in 1990s. Before Gilchrist burst onto the scene, wicketkeepers were mostly expected to be just good behind the stumps. Any handy contribution with the bat was considered a bonus.

However, Gilchrist showed that wicketkeepers can change the course of a game not only with the gloves but also with the bat. He was one of Australia's most important players when they enjoyed an unprecedented run in international cricket that included three World Cup wins in a row. His 149-run knock in the 2007 World Cup final is one of the greatest ODI knocks of all time.

Gilchrist's 57-ball century against England in 2006 is still one of the fastest Test centuries of all time. The former Australia cricketer was also the first to hit 100 sixes in Test. He hit 17 and 16 centuries in Test and ODIs respectively.

2. Shane Warne:

If not for Don Bradman, Shane Warne would have been the popular choice for the greatest Australian cricketer of all time. Legspin was considered a dying art before Warne revolutionized it, making his name synonymous with it. A mercurial figure, Warne's antics mostly off the field where overshadowed by his flamboyance and performance on the field.

His vicious spinning delivery to dismiss Mike Gatting in 1993 is widely regarded as the 'ball of the century'. In 2005, he became the first-ever bowler to reach 90 Test wickets in a calendar year and still holds the record for taking most wickets in a year. Warne also became the first to reach 700 Test wickets and was the highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game when he retired after 2006-07 Ashes.

1. Don Bradman:

Sir Donald George Bradman, nicknamed 'The Don', is widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time. No cricketer has enjoyed a prolific career as him at the highest stage of the game. His scarcely believable Test batting average of 99.94 is widely considered as one of the greatest achievement in the world of sports - the kind of dominance that pretty much shakes sports betting markets.

Such was his impact with the bat that former Australia captain Bill Woodfull said Bradman was 'worth three batsmen to Australia'. Bradman has been a towering figure in Australia ever since he started piling up runs in international cricket. Even decades after his retirement in 1997, the-then Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the "greatest living Australian".

In 2009, Bradman was inducted posthumously as an inaugural member into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Overall, Bradman batted 80 times in Test cricket and scored 29 centuries. He needed only 4 runs in his last Test innings to ensure an average of 100 but was out for a duck.