20 best Australian batsman of all time

1.Sir Donald Bradman

The ultimate run machine. -The equivalent to Cricket  of a racehorse for whom a handicapper had to  revise a new Weight for age Rules .Bradman not ony had a phenomenal batting average of almost 100 scoring centuries at a rate higher than 1 every 3 innings, but scored his runs at a phenomemal scoring rate unprecedented in history.He still holds the test record of scoring the most runs (390 runs) in  a single day as well as the maximum double hundreds in a series and maximum runs in a series.(974)In the most challenging eras would have averaged atleast over 75.

2.Victor Trumper
The master on wet pitches  and on bad wickets.His batting reminded you of battalion winning  a famous war in  alien conditions or a doctor performing a successful operation on an incurable patient

.. Wisden states:Trumper was, in proportion, more to be feared on treacherous wickets than on fast, true ones. No matter how bad the pitch might be from the combined effects of rain and sunshine, he was quite likely to get 50 runs, his skill in pulling good-length balls amounting to genius.Of this fact our English bowlers had convincing evidence day after day during the season of 1902. Trumper paid four visits to this country -- in 1899, 1902, 1905, and 1909 -- but it was in 1902 that he reached his highest point.

In that summer of wretched weather he scored 2570 runs in thirty-five matches for the Australian team, with the wonderful average, in the circumstances, of 48. He was as consistent as he was brilliant, and did not owe his average to a few exceptional scores. Of eleven innings of over a hundred, the biggest was 128. Trumper did not again touch the same level in this country. He played very well in 1905 and 1909, but he was no longer pre-eminent. He was fifth in the averages in 1905, and in 1909 he was overshadowed by Bardsley and Ransford. In the latter year, however, he was seen at his best, notably against England at The Oval, when he played DW Carr's googlies with perfect ease, and in the second match against MCC at Lord's. When he came here first, in 1899, he jumped at once into the front rank, playing a splendid innings of 135 not out against England at Lord's and scoring 300 not out against Sussex at Brighton. His innings at Lord's was in itself sufficient to prove that Australia had found a world's batsman. Nothing could have been better.

His career culminated when the South Africans visited Australia in the season of 1910-11. He then recovered his finest form, and on the beautiful wickets at Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney the googly bowlers had no terrors for him. In the five Test matches he scored 662 runs, with an average of 94. It was agreed on all hands that he had not played so well since his trip to England in 1902. Under all conditions Trumper was a fascinating batsman to watch. His extreme suppleness lent a peculiar grace to everything he did. When he was hitting up a big score batting seemed quite an easy matter. He took so many liberties, however, and scored from so many good balls, that in order to do himself justice he had to be in the best possible health and condition. The strokes with which he drove even the best bowlers to despair demanded a marvellous union of hand and eye. His game at its highest point of excellence could only be played by a young man.     
   

3.Greg Chappell.
The greatest Australian batsmen after BradmanPossessed a classical batting style.Greg’s batting had a charasterictic English style which ha.d elegance personified in total contrast to brother Ian who had a charasterictic ruggedness and arrogance about his batting.One feature of his career was their  back to back centuries at Wellington when Ian and Greg became the first brother combination to score 2centuries apiece in a test match.(Greg scored 247not out and 133 not out while Ian scpored 145 and 121)Often it was Ian who inspired Greg.It was a sight to behold watching the two brothers batting at the crease  who were temperamentally so different.  Predominantly a front -foot player he had classical tecnique and was a champion inthe 'V'.Scored a record 702 runs ina debut series for skipper against West Indies in 1975-76 averaging 117 including 3 centuries and a classic 182 not out at Syney.Also scored 131 at Lords in 1972 one of Cricket's classics.In Packer series played 2 classic knocks scoring 174 versus West Indies and 246 not out versus Rest Of  The World.'In 1978 scored 621 runs in 9 innings against WEst Indies,(Packer Cricket)If his runs in the 1972 series versus RestOf the World were added ,where  he averaged over 100 runs his test average would be 55 runs.14 of is 24 centuries have been winning ones and has a great match-winning average of 70 runs.         .
.Where would Greg rank overall as abatsman?To me he is just a hare’s breadth below Viv Richards,Sachin Tendulkar  or Brian Lara and is among the 10 best batsman of all time.Placed above Ricky Ponting  and Allan Border.as he played in an era where the pace bowling was better and teams more competitive
Staistically Greg averaged 53.86 scoring 7110 runs in 151 innings in 87 tests.I rate him 2 nd best amongst Australian batsman  behind only Bradman as though Ian Chappell was better in acrisis or on bad wickets or similarly Allan Border was more prolific they could not dominate an attack like Greg Chappell or win as many matches.14 out of his 24 centuries in test matches were maych-winning affairs  and Greg had a phenomenal average of 70 in test matches won by Australia.(better than Viv Richards,Tendulakr or Lara in modern times .)Ricky Ponting or Matthew Hayden  may match Greg Chappell’s ability to dominate or been  greater match-winners staistically  but to me have  not faced the same calibre of bolwing and had the advantage of playing for a champion team.Greg Chappel has faced the greatest bolwers of any era.(Andy Roberts,Imran Khan Etc).)Greg Chappells scores in Packer CRicket  in the 1977-79 period and in the 1972 Rest of the World versus Australia series in Australia  have  been excluded from the record books .Otherwise he would have a higher ranking amongst the all -time great batsman..In Packer Cricket he averaged over 45+against the likes of Andy Roberts,Holding and Imran Khan including a .classic 246 not out verus Rest of the World and 174 versus West Indies.He tore the bowilng like a sword piercing flesh when scoring 246 not out ,(which won the match against aChampion team)reminding one of a  bomber destroying an enemy base. Against rest of the World  at home in 1972.he averaged over 100 including scores of 115 and 197 not out .Greg’s best Innings wsa possibly his 131 at Lords i 1972 against England when his style and composure reminded one of the great batsman of the Golden age,mastering the moving ball..He scored prolifically against the Calypso paceman like in his debut series as skipper (when he scored a record  for adebut series as skipper) scoring 702 runs at 117 including aclassic 182 not out at Sydney.He also scored 621 runs at a 69 run average in the Packer Series in the WEst Indies.Greg alos showed he was amaster on the sub-continent with aclassical 235 at Faislabad against Pakistan in 1980.
Technically Greg was the best Australain batsman after Sir Don.Greg had a unique composure with an impregnable defence.In the post-war era there has not been a more correct Australian batsman.He had extraordinary judgement  whether he should defend with a perfectly straight bat ar launch ablistering attack,including majestic drives,cuts and flicks on either side of the wicket.In the Arc region he batted like a surgeon performing an a operationand he was the best ever player of the flicked drive through mid wicket..When in full flow he was reminiscent of an emperor dicating his knights but scored his runs with the precision of asurgeon performing an operation.He was a perfect model for a schoolboy batsman.Few batsman ever have combined such technical  correctness with the ability to destroy bowilng.In Greg’s only weakness was his vulnerability against the bouncing ball which was exposed on fast tracks against the WEst Indian paceman,particularyly in 1979-80 He often top edged bouncers attempting the hook shot and his predominatly Front foot Technique got him into troubled Had a weakness against hostile short-pitched bowling as against West Indies in 1979-80.Also had an advantage of batting for a champion team or an outstanding one and facing  inferior opposition. 

4.Ricky Ponting

Statistically  bset Australain batsman after the Don.Averaging over 59 and scoring almost 10,000 rus has been unequalled and he is likely to be statistically rated above every batsman bar Sir Don Bradman.A graet match-winner with an amazing strike rate. Likely to statistically become the best batsman of al time.

5.Arthur Morris

A matchwiner who laid the foundation for agaret Australain batting side in the late 1940’s.Bradman placed him in his all time eleven. Arthur Morris lost prime run-getting years to the war after the then unprecedented feat, as an 18-year-old, of scoring a hundred in each innings of his first-class debut in December 1940. By his first series against England in 1946-47, however, this calm and compact left-hander was close to the finished article, and scored three consecutive hundreds. He then outscored even Bradman in the Tests of 1948: only three Australians, in fact, have a better Ashes average. Once decoupled from his favourite partner Sid Barnes, Morris was a more spasmodic performer, although he ended a run of outs against England in January 1951 with his highest Test score, 206, and carried on molesting bowlers most civilly for another five years.
Gideon Haigh

6.Ian Chappell

Ian  scored 5345 run sin 75 tests in 136 innings at 42.42 byt those figures hardly did him justice.At one down position he averaged 50..94 in 84 test innings which is remarkable and behind only Bradmanand Ponting at one down.In first class CRicket he exceeded 1000 runs 6 times in an Austrlain season-a fifure surpassed by only Sir Don Bradman.In one day Internatinals he averaged 48 runs,the highest ever for aperiod.He was a great player of pace bowling and mastered both the bouncing and turning wickets.He alos excelled in seaming conditions inEngland.He would rank amongst the game’s great mastersof the hook shot which he deployed unrelentingly.Gary Sobers rated him the best batsman in the world in 1979-80 while Imran Khan thouht Ian was the best Australian batsman he ever saw-even ahead of Greg Chappel.Both Lillee and Imran rated him the best batsman in a crisis.WEst Indian bolwers prized his wicket more than anyone.As a skipper he won 15 out of 30 tests and was a master tactician.He got the most out of his players particularly Dennis Lillee.However he was ruthless and often resorted to sledging.As aslip fileder he performed remarkably taking  105 catches,and is amongst the game’s dozen best slip fielders of all time .
When the chips were down he was a better batsman than  brother Greg ,Barry Richards or Viv Richards.His 5 first-class hundreds against WEst Indies in 1968-69,His 2 centuries in the Carribean in 1973,His 192 in his final innings in England at the Oval,141 agaisnt the Rest of the World in Packer CRicket,his 4 Centuries in 1972 against Rest of the World ,his graet innings in the supertest final in Packer Cricket and his 156 out of 328 on afiery Perth Pitch versus WEst Indies are a tsetimony of this.He averaged 50.94 ,accumulating 4279 runs in 84 test innings,at a one down position.Rated by Gary Sobrs as the best batsman of the 1970's and rated by Imran Khan and Dennis Lillee  as the best batsman in  a crisis in Packer Cricket.In thta era he came out with several great knocks when the chips were down.He played pace and spin bolwing with great skill and was a master in handling short-pitched bowling on boucy tracks.Michael Holding states that it Was Ian's 449 run sand not Greg Chappell's 702 run sthat won the 1975-76 Frank Worrell TRophy for Australia.Score prolifically in the Carribean topping the averages o the 1973 tour averaging 77.42.He also played great innings in England like his 192 in the 4^th tset at he Oval and mastered the turning pitches in India in 1968 .He was always prolific against the West Indian pace attack like in 1968 when he sored 5 centuries against him and in 1975-76 when he sored 2 hundreds. .He scored 449 runs including asuperb 156 out of 328 at Perth combating Holding and Robersts.True Greg outscored him but it was Ian’s 449 runs that won the trophy for Australia.

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7.Allan Border

The ultimate batsmen to bat for your life,even if he was a champion in the lost causes.Batted like a champion on the bouncy Australain and West I ndian Wickets,on the turning sub-continent wickets and in the seaming English conditions.Scored 162 at Madras in 1977  and two 150's in Lahore in 1979-80.In 1981 in England in amatch-losing cause scored 123 not out at Old Trafford while in West Indies at Trinidad in 1984 he saved his team from certain defeat with a heroic century.Allan averaged 67 runs in the 1981-82 Frank Worrel Trophy while in 1984 in the Carribean aveaged over 74 runs.For 4 succesive English tours he averaged over 59runs.Border averaged 57 runs away from Home and for a great part of his career played for a weaker team.Rated below he Chappell brothers because he was not afast –scoring batsman who performed outstandingly in losing causes .Ratein  I the top 10 of all batsma by Wisden in the last century.

8. Neil Harvey

a master on bad wickets and amajor component of Bradman's champion team.Averaged over 48 run sscoring over 600 runs .He had graet natural ability and was at his best scoring amatch-winning 151 not out against South Africa  in 1952 when his team was chasing 336 run son  an unplayable wicket.(resembled asurgeon performing an operation on an incurable patient) Quoting Wisden Cricketsr Alamanac "Harvey was an electrifying batsman who thrilled spectators with the splendour of his strokeplay. He possessed a masterful technique as well as a full range of shots and he displayed to cricket followers a superbly steadfast temperament right from the moment, as a teenager, that he played his opening first-class innings. Throughout a career which ultimately netted him in excess of 20,000 first-class runs, bowlers rarely found a way of disrupting his concentration or curbing his attacking instincts. He also possessed disarming power for a man of relatively short height. There will be many performances for which he will be remembered but foremost among them were his 153 against India in his second Test (an innings which made him the youngest-ever Australian to score a Test century); his 112 in the celebrated Leeds Test of 1948; his 151 in Durban in 1949-50; and his highest Test score of 205 against South Africa in Melbourne in 1952-53. Most discussions of Neil Harvey's career are also considered to be incomplete without mention of his achievement in amassing six centuries in his first 13 Test innings alone

9. Matthew Hayden

In tset CRicket no batsman has scored in such a blistering manner,or turned the complexiojn of agame.Not  a great technician but the most explosive tset opener of the modern generation.He literally takes the game from the oppostion.Scored one thousand runs in acalendar year arecord 5 times .

10. Steve Waugh

Inhis era overshadowed Sachin and Lara in a crisis.What he lacked in talent he compensated with graet grit and determinatin.Instrumental in Australia regaining the AShes in 1989,which started their long Ashes domination where he averaged 92 runs.His 200 in the final test at Kingston in 1995 verus WEst INdies was esponsible for Austrlai winning the unofficial title of World Test Champions,the 1st team to win a eries in the Carribean since 22 yearts!He alos compiled amasterly 50 on abad track at Trinidad when the rest were struggling.He went on to score  amatch-winning hundreds versus South Africa where Australia agaisn woon the unofficial World Championship.Averaged 57 runs away he was most consistent in England and played an instrumental role in all the Ashes series there.He alos batted brillinatly on the turning pitches in India and Pakistan .His best knoch was his match-wiining 120 not out against South Africa in the 1990 Woorld Cup which enabled Australai to qualify for the semi-final and eventualy win the Cup.From 68-4 he led hios tae to victory playing awide array of shots and giving one of Cricket's most mastely displays ina crisis.

One of the graet match-wiining batsman of al time who averaged over 70 runs I test matches won.To me however rated below Ian Chappel as he batted 3 down and did not face as graet bowling.

Mcartney

11.Charles George Macartney
 
One of the most brilliant and attractive right-handed batsmen in the history of Australian cricket. Daring and confident, he possessed a quickness of eye, hand and foot, a perfection of timing which made him a menace to the best of bowlers. Sydney H. Pardon, then Editor of Wisden, wrote of him in 1921 as a law to himself--an individual genius, but not in any way to be copied. He constantly did things that would be quite wrong for an ordinary batsman, but by success justified all his audacities. Except Victor Trumper at his best, no Australian batsman has ever demoralised our bowlers to the same extent.

Of medium height and stocky build, The Governor-General, as MacArtney came to be known, was specially good in cutting and hitting to leg, though there was no stroke, orthodox or unorthodox, of which he did not show himself master. Intolerant of batsmen who did not treat bowling upon its merits, he was quoted as giving, not long before his death, as the reason why he had ceased to be a regular cricket spectator: I can't bear watching luscious half-volleys being nudged gently back to bowlers. Yet in regard to his own achievements this man with the Napoleonic features could not have been more modest; he had no regard at all for records or averages, nor was he ever known to complain about an umpire's decision.

How punishing a batsman he could be was never more fully demonstrated than in 1921 when, at Trent Bridge, he took such full advantage of a missed chance when nine that he reached 345 from the Nottinghamshire bowling in less than four hours with four 6's and forty-seven 4's among his figures. This still stands as the highest innings put together by an Australian in England and, furthermore, no other batsman in first-class cricket has scored as many runs in a single day. It was also the third of four centuries in following innings, the others being 105 v. Hampshire at Southampton, 193 v. Northamptonshire at Northampton and 115 v. England at Leeds, where he performed the rare feat of getting to three figures before lunch.

From the time that he made his first appearance for Australia in 1907 till he ended his Test career in 1926, MacArtney represented his country 35 times, scoring 2,132 runs, including seven centuries, average 41.80. His highest Test innings was 170 against England at Sydney in 1920-21. He headed the Australia averages with 86.66 that season and also figured at the top in England in 1926 when, with the aid of innings of 151, 133 not out and 109, his average was 94.60. He took part in twelve Test partnerships of 100 or more, the biggest being 235 with W. M. Woodfull for the second wicket against England at Leeds in 1926.

12.Stan Mcabe

.Plyed in the bodlyline era like agenius.He comabted Larwood lke asildier fighting in the World War.When Bradman gfailed he came out on top.His 187 at Nottingham is one of Cricket's graetset ever performances-accordiong to Bradman the best.he ever saw.

Wisden Almanac statse:Against D. R. Jardine's team in 1932-33, in what is often called the body-line tour, when England employed fast leg-theory bowling to a packed leg-side field, McCabe distinguished himself by hitting 385 runs in the five Tests, average nearly 43. His 187 not out in the first match of the series at Sydney was a remarkable exhibition of both craftsmanship and courage. He made his runs out of 278 in less than four and three-quarter hours, after his earlier colleagues failed, with twenty-five 4s among his figures. His hooking of short-pitched deliveries by H. Larwood and W. Voce, the Nottinghamshire pair, was something which will for ever hold a place in Australian cricket history. In England again in 1934, he put together eight centuries -- more than any of his team-mates - including 240, the highest of his career, against Surrey at The Oval and 137 in the third Test at Old Trafford. As Wisden of the time said of him: He blossomed forth as an almost completely equipped batsman of the forcing type and was probably the best exponent -- Bradman himself scarcely excluded -- of the art of hitting the ball tremendously hard and safely.

Next season at home he became captain of New South Wales and on tour in South Africa in 1935-36 he enjoyed more success, heading the Test batting figures with 420 runs, average 84. He hit 149 in the first test at Durban, sharing a second-wicket partnership of 161 with W. A. Brown, and 189 not out in the second meeting with South Africa at Johannesburg, where he and J. H. Fingleton put on 177 together. At Johannesburg he showed his fast-scoring ability to the full by reaching 50 in forty-two minutes.

Perhaps McCabe's most famous innings was his 232 not out in the opening Test against England at Trent Bridge in 1938 which, scored at the rate of one a minute, prompted Sir Donald Bradman, his captain, to greet him on his return to the pavilion with the words: If I could play an innings like that, I'd be a proud man, Stan.

S. C. Griffith, Secretary of M.C.C., commented upon this innings when paying a tribute to McCabe, calling it one of the best batting displays ever seen. McCabe was a very great cricketer and a wonderful friend to all cricketers, said Mr. Griffith.

Other tributes included:

Sir Robert Menzies, former Prime Minister of Australia: One of his great points was that he never bothered about averages; he enjoyed his batting. He was one of the two or three greatest batsman I ever saw.

Sir Leonard Hutton: I knew him well. It would be hard to think of a greater Australian batsman. He had qualities that even Bradman hadn't got. I always liked to watch him bat and he was a most likeable fellow.(From Wisden Cricketers Almanac)

13.Lindsay Hasset

Cricinfo states: An artful strokemaker before the Second World War, afterwards Lindsay Hassett was a more circumspect batsman, though one who never lost his lightness of touch. A tiny man who cast a shadow little longer than his bat, he played spin with quick feet, and speed with easy confidence; only five men with more than 10,000 first-class runs boast a better average. He captained the Australian Services XI during the 1945 Victory Tests, and became Bradman's deputy and eventual successor, leading his country to 14 victories and only four defeats. This, however, falls short of a full estimation: his generosity and deadpan humour won hordes of admirers abroad, especially in England. "Australia has sent to these shores no captain of cricket who shared Hassett's secret into our English ways," wrote Neville Cardus, "knowing it without any surrender of Australia's own related yet not entirely similar ways." He later became a thoughtful radio commentator.Hassett was born at Geelong and was a brilliant sportsman at Geelong College. His name first got noticed when he was a 17-year-old, scoring 147 not out for Combined Victoria Country XI against the West Indians in 1930-31 (it was not noticed everywhere: Wisden called him Bassett), but it took him several more years to establish himself in Victoria's first team. In the early 1930s he had a spell of seven ducks for South Melbourne - and he reckoned he was plumb lbw and dropped twice when he was still in line for his eighth. He made 150 and never looked back. He was chosen to tour England in 1938 and had the chance of 1,000 in May. The runs dried up but none the less he played in every Test of the series, the first four of his 43 TestsIn 1945 he was chosen to lead the Australian Services to Britain for the Victory Tests. He declined a commission and did it all on a sergeant-major's pay of 12 shillings a day. The tour was hugely popular and re-established cricket's role in public life. He began the 1946-47 series against England with a stand of 276 with Bradman, though it was a grinding performance compared to the batting styles of the 1930s. Hassett like the game itself, had changed Before the war he was a quick-footed attacking player, reliant on the cut and pull, as one would expect from someone of 5ft 6in, but he was also famous for his ability to take on Bill O'Reilly and hit him over the top. Now he was much more patient and cautious. In 1948 he became Bradman's vice-captain and his 137 played an important role in the victory at Nottingham that set the tone for the series. It was said he was chosen as Bradman's successor by only one vote. It may have been remembered that, among other pranks, he had once tied a goat to Bradman's bed. But he was highly successful against South Africa, West Indies and England and his batting remained absolutely staunch. He was 40 at the end of the 1953 tour of England but had scored centuries at Trent Bridge and Lord's. When he finally lost the Ashes, he made a gracious and humorous speech, having been introduced as The Happy Warrior. It was his fourth defeat in 24 Tests as captain, against 14 wins and six draws. In retirement, he ran a sports goods business and commentated until 1981 when, he said, he could stand modem players' behaviour no more. In 216 matches he hit 16,890 at 58.24, an average bettered (amongst players with 10,000 runs or more) only by Bradman, Merchant, Ponsford and Woodfull. He scored 59 centuries in his 290 completed innings, 27 of them overseas. His Test record was 3,073 runs in 43matches, at 46.56. He was a quick, smart fielder. Cardus described his century at Lord's in 1953 as four and a half hours of cricket so fashioned that the watchmaker's eye was required to detect a loose screw or loose end here or there. He once remarked in a press box during a boring passage: I'm glad I wasn't up here when I was down there. There are others who have made more runs and taken more wickets, but very few have ever got more out of a lifetime, wrote Richie Benaud. As an epitaph, Happy Warrior will do nicely.

Wisden Almanac Lindsay Hassett followed Bradman both as captain of Australia and as the embodiment of the national tradition of pocket-sized batting geniuses. He was of course nowhere near Bradman's class as a batsman, but the two men differed most in their approach to life: Hassett was far more light-hearted and puckish. In 1953 he surrendered the Ashes to England but his team won many riends.: 

HASSETT, ARTHUR LINDSAY, MBE, died on June 16, 1993, aged 79. 

14.Bill Ponsford

He made 162 in his second first-class game, for Victoria against Tasmania at Launceston in February 1922, but did not play for the state again until selected against the same opposition a year later in Melbourne. Then, in what was only his fourth innings, he created a sensation by hitting 429 in 477 minutes: it was the world's highest first-class score until he bettered it five years later. Furthermore, Victoria's 1059 was the first four-figure total in any first-class match, and Ponsford, who was captaining the side, stayed until he made the 1000th run himself, having gone in at 200 for three.

He was soon to prove that his 429 was something more than money for old rope against moderate bowling, as some would have it. The previous record-holder, AC MacLaren, had protested peevishly at the status of the match. Four centuries for Victoria in 1923-24, including 248 out of 456 with Edgar Mayne for the first wicket against Queensland - still an Australian record - sounded a warning note of what was in store for bowlers. The next season he played in all five Tests against England and scored 110 and 128 in the first two, an unprecedented achievement. His tour of England in 1926 was less successful, but early in December a veritable torrent of runs began to flow from his bat. Never before had anyone strung together such a series of colossal scores as Ponsford did in 1926-27 and 1927-28. In 1926-27, his innings were 214 and 54, 151, 352, 108 and 84, 12 and 116, 131 and 7, producing an aggregate of 1229 runs at 122.90; in 1927-28 he scored 133, 437, 202 and 38, 336, 6 and 2, and 63 - an aggregate of 1217 at 152.12. His 336 against South Australia in January 1928 was his eleventh first-class hundred in consecutive matches in Australia.

Only phenomenal powers of concentration, a high degree of physical fitness and an insatiable appetite for runs could have sustained him through so many hours at the crease. Over Christmas in 1926, Ponsford was in especially devastating form. On the second day of Victoria's match against New South Wales at Melbourne, he dominated an opening partnership of 375 with Woodfull, and his 352, of which 334 were made in a day, contained 36 fours. It was the foundation of Victoria's 1107, still the first-class total. But in reviewing 1927-28 the gods must have deemed Ponsford guilty of hubris, after he had the temerity to amass 1013 runs in only four innings. Nemesis was soon to follow: his new world-record score of 437, made in 621 minutes against Queensland at Melbourne, was eclipsed two years later by the young Bradman's 452 not out.

He was a fierce driver in front of the wicket and always worked hard to keep up the momentum of an innings; his two quadruple centuries each contained 42 fours. He was second to none as a player of spin bowling, and O'Reilly reckoned him to be an even tougher opponent than Bradman to bowl at. Against high pace he was less secure, and when facing left-armers like Voce and Quinn, the South African, he at times showed a tendency to move too far across his wicket.

15 Adam Gilchrist.

The graetset match-winner of modern times. And the bsetwicket keeper batsman of all.No batsman has been more devastating in the modern era .Taking his one day performances into account only Sir Don Bradman was more devastating.However since he played 5 downan and that too for a champion team has ben rated below the likes of other graet batsman.To me amaongstthe top 3 Aussie one day batsman of all if not the best.

16.Doug Walters
Quick on to the back foot against the spinners, he was a fine straight-driver and hooker, and a valuable partnership breaker with his medium pace. Crowds relaxed and related to his instinctive and aggressive Test batting that three times brought up centuries in a session, the most famous arriving when he smacked the last ball of the day from Bob Willis for six at the WACA in 1974-75. He could play pressure innings as well, like the 112 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1972-93, when Lance Gibbs had three short-legs by 35 minutes on day one and Walters scored 100 between lunch and tea. "By any standards it was a magnificent innings," Wisden reported. The grit never stuck to his stories, forcing him to open his autobiography with a spoiler. "It rather amuses me when journalists refer to me as happy-go-lucky and unflappable. I feel the pressures and tensions as much as the next bloke."(Crcinfo).Battedwith exceptional consistency averaging over 48 runs .In 1968 amassed 699 runs in a home series against the West Indies wscoring 4 centuries.His only drawback was in England where he failed to adjust o the seaming conditions.A great stroke player.Quoting Wisden almanac Growing up on a Dungog dairy farm in country New South Wales, Walters stepped from the paddock into first-class cricket at 17, where he faced the great Wes Hall and reached 50. Like Clarke, he made a century on debut two years later. A second Ashes hundred came in the next match as he followed 155 with 22 and 115 in a sparkling start that was upturned in 1966 by conscription for two years' national service. He was not called up for duty in Vietnam, and smoothly swapped training greens to whites. Re-sealing his place with 699 runs in four matches against West Indies in 1968-69, he became the first player to make a double-hundred and a hundred in a Test.

Walters was a fixture of the team until 1977, his fourth Ashes tour, and he joined World Series Cricket, playing most of his matches upcountry, before a surprise recall against India in 1980-81. Missing out on a century in England remains his career's biggest hole. Using a high back-lift and a light bat, he was susceptible to the swinging ball, and retired after being overlooked for the 1981 Ashes tour. However, his highest score came in the similar conditions of New Zealand. Celebrating his first century overnight, the tour manager was called in the early hours because the hotelier wanted the bar closed. Walters backed up the following evening after reaching 250 from 342 balls and putting on 217 with the No. 8 Gary Gilmour. Another time he borrowed a spectator's bike to ride from third-man at each end after being punished by Ian Chappell for oversleeping. There are so many Walters stories that many of them must be true, and as a man of the people he was rewarded with a stand on the old SCG hill. "There will never be another like him," Dennis Lillee said. "I never saw him throw a bat, never heard him talk badly of anyone. He was so cool." He could bat, too

17.Mark Waugh

Elegance personified,in the David Gower class.More natural ability than any Australian batsman since Bradman who could have emulate Lara and Tendulkar on his day. His batting posesed a classical touch and reminded one of the Golden Age of batting. Unfortunately lacked temperament and consistency The best onside player of his time with a wonderful repertoire of strokes. Dominated bowling in the West Indiesa against their fearsome pace attack. He was exceptional in one day games where he averaged over 38 runs. For some time even challenged Tendulkar ,Lara and brother Steve Waugh or the title of he best batsman. Prolific I the 1996 World up where he scored 3 centuries in great style. Also a class player of spin bowling.His best innings was against South Africa in 1997 in the 2^nd test where is 125 won the match on a broken track .Played the South African attack exceptionally well at home and away.A  better one day batsman than brothe Steve.

18 David Boon

One of the gutsiest batsman Cricket has seen. He played pace and spin with equal ease and prolifically scored against the champion West Indian pace attack.. Man of the match in the 1987 Reliance Cup final where his 75 provided a solid base for Australia’s triumph. Originally played as an openerbut later was relegated to batting in the one down. slotI n 1991 scored 3 centuries in a test series in West Indies. At home  in all types of conditions.

19 Bobby Simpson

Bob Simpson first toured with Australia in 1957-58 as an allrounder, bowling legbreaks and fielding infallibly at slip. He subsequently became a first-rate opening batsman, although it wasn't until his 30th Test, by which time he had succeeded to the captaincy, that he first posted a Test hundred. He made this breakthrough innings at Old Trafford count, by turning it into 311 in almost 13 hours. In all he made 1381 Test runs in 1964, a record at the time. Hard-bitten and immensely dedicated, he steadily rationalised his repertoire of strokes, eschewing the hook, but excelling as an acquirer of singles; Australia has had no more productive an opening pairing than Simpson and Bill Lawry. With the advent of World Series Cricket in April 1977, Simmo emerged from retirement at 41 to lead Australia again, against India, where his old powers against spin were evident, and West Indies, whose fast bowlers proved more taxing: his captaincy record, ultimately, was rather modest.(Wisden Alamanac)

Amazing first –class aggregate..

20 Bill Lawry

By the time he inherited Australia's captaincy against India in 1967-68, he had become the most rigidly self-denying batsman of his generation, as hard to watch as he was to dismiss. Ian Wooldridge, the English journalist, called him "a corpse with pads on". Lawry's courage was a byword, and he withstood fearsome bombardments from Trueman and Statham in the infamous Ridge Test at Lord's in June 1961, and from Hall and Griffith on an underprepared Sydney surface in February 1969. Twice, too, he carried his bat through completed Test innings. Selectors, however, treated him scurvily, dumping him as leader and player in January 1971.Score prolifically in theWest Indies.(Wisden Alamanac)

I have given more emphasis to talent and class over pure technique and statistical prowess.Considering Mcabe and Mcartney had to play on uncovered pitches I have rated them above other great batsman.Match-winiing ability has also been prefeered That is why Morris is placed above Allan Border.The eras have also been given special consideration.Ian Chapppell has been rated ahaed of Steve Waugh and Allan Border as he played in the number one slot and had to bear agreat brunt of his team's batting.