Michael Gwyl Bevan (born 8
May 1970 in Belconnen, Australian
Capital Territory
) is a former Australian left-handed cricket batsman
and a slow left arm chinaman bowler. He played 232 ODI
matches for Australia, and was a part of the 1999 and 2003 teams
that won the
World Cup. He holds
the world record
One Day
International batting average for retired players of 53.58. In
List A cricket as a whole, Bevan has
an average of over 58, the highest of any player to have scored
10,000 runs in List A games (second is
Dean Jones, on 46.93).Although Bevan
played most of his domestic career for the
New South Wales Blues, he moved to the
Tasmanian Tigers for the 2004-05
season, where he continued his successes up until his retirement in
January 2007. He has also played for the
Southern Redbacks,
Sussex County Cricket Club, and
Yorkshire County Cricket
Club.
ODI career
Bevan is one of only two players with 30 ODI innings or more to
maintain a batting average above 50. Critics have claimed this was
an inflated average due to a high level of not outs, a result of
batting in the lower-middle order. However, Bevan's best
performance was as a number four. Of the players to have played 30
or more ODI innings, he is one of only three (with
Kevin Pietersen and
Michael Hussey) whose batting average never
dropped below 40. This, coupled with the high price he put on his
wicket, resulted in many not-out innings.
Nonetheless, he proved a reliable anchor at the bottom of the
middle order, and he would often patiently guide Australia to
victory following a rare top-order collapse - leading to him being
nicknamed "The Finisher".
One of his most famous "anchor" innings was
in the New Years Day One Day
International at the Sydney Cricket Ground
against the West Indies in 1996. With
the Australians at one stage 6/38 chasing 173, his unbeaten
150-minute 78 got the Australians over the line with a four on the
last ball of the innings.
Test career
Despite his ODI success, Bevan's Test career, however, was not
nearly as successful - thought to be susceptible to short-pitched
deliveries, he never really succeeded in the longer form of the
game, with an average of only 29. It must be noted that his
problems with short pitched bowling are more myth than reality - he
continued to perform consistently in ODIs, despite a rule change
which allowed short pitch bowling in ODIs. He also scored heavily
in domestic first-class cricket for
New South Wales during this time
averaging almost 60 with the bat. He performed well during his
limited time as a bowler in Test matches, with his bowling style of
unorthodox left-arm chinaman spin. He is the only bowler of this
type to have taken ten wickets in a Test match which he did against
the West Indies touring side in 1996.
The major teams he has played for are:
South Australia,
New South Wales,
Yorkshire,
Sussex,
Leicestershire and of
course
Australia. He
finished his career playing for
Tasmania, where in the 2004/05 season, he
scored a
Sheffield Shield record
for number of runs scored in a season. Despite this form, he was
dismissed for Australian selection due to his age.
Retirement
On 17 January 2007, due to injuries Bevan announced his retirement
from all forms of cricket. "It got to the stage where injuries and
pain were holding back my motivation, and it got to the stage where
I was finding it hard to get up for matches and that was probably a
pretty clear indication that it was time to move on," Bevan said.
Apart from coaching the
Chennai
Superstars in the
Indian
Cricket League, Bevan now participates in the
Beach Cricket Tri-Nations
series for Australia.
Statistics
Michael Bevan's Test career batting
performance.
centre
Notes
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