Who leads the list of Australia most runs, most wickets and most centuries? A comprehensive look below.
Australia happens to be the most successful Test team along with England. Out of the 856 Tests they have played in, the Aussies have won 408 matches. Even as they lost 229 games, 217 matches ended in draws. As per Australia team records, they also played two tied Tests against West Indies and India in 1960 and 1986 respectively.
Australia tasted success in Test cricket in the very first match they played against England back in March 1877 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Opening batter Charles Bannerman scored 165 as Australia racked up a decent score of 245 in their first innings. Thereafter, they bowled England our for 196 and took a lead of 49 runs after both team’s first innings.
The Aussies, however, were bowled out for 104 in the second innings, thereby giving England a target of 154 to chase down. The visitors were bowled out for 108 in 66.1 overs as Australia won the match by 45 runs to etch their names in the history books.
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As per Australia team records, they have played 978 ODIs thus far and have won 594 of them. Even as they lost 341 of them, 34 matches ended in no results., Australia also played nine tied ODIs. Back on January 5, 1971, Australia played their first ODI against England in Melbourne. Bill Lawry’s Australia won the match by five wickets with 42 balls remaining.
After being put in to bat first, England racked up a healthy score of 190 in 39.4 overs. Opening batter John Edrich was the pick of the English batters, having scored 82 runs off 119 balls with the help of four fours. Ashley Mallett and Keith Stackpole picked up two wickets apiece.
The Aussies chased down the target in 35 overs. Ian Chappell showed his sheer class after he scored 60 runs off 103 balls with five fours and a six. Doug Walters, skipper Lawry and Greg Chappell scored 41, 27 and 22 not out respectively. Ray Illingworth picked up three wickets for England.
As per Australia team records, back in February 17, 2005, Australia played their first T20I against New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland. The Aussies won the match by 44 runs. After electing to bat first, Australia racked up a massive score of 214 for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
Skipper Ricky Ponting scored an unbeaten 98 off 55 balls with eight fours and five sixes. Andrew Symonds, Simon Katich and Michael Hussey made useful scores in the 30s. Kyle Mills picked up three wickets for the Black Caps, but ended up leaking 44 runs. Chris Cairns picked up only one wicket, but gave away only 28 runs at an economy rate of seven.
New Zealand stuttered in their run-chase and were bowled out for 170 in 20 overs. Scott Styris scored 66 runs off 39 balls with five fours and three sixes. But once Brett Lee rattled his woodwork, it was all over bar the shouting for the Kiwis. Michael Kasprowicz was the pick of the Australian bowlers after he picked up four wickets for 29 runs, but it was Ponting who won the Player of the Match award for his stupendous knock.
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Australia most runs
Ricky Ponting leads the list of Australia most runs in Test cricket. The right-handed batter has racked up 13378 runs from 168 Tests at an average of 51.85. His top score of 257 came against India back in December 2003 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Aussies won the match by nine wickets and Ponting went on to become the Player of the Match for his incredible knock.
In fact, Ponting’s top three scores in Test cricket are against India itself. In 2003, Ponting scored 242 in the Adelaide Test. This time around, his efforts ended up on the losing side as India, led by Sourav Ganguly, won the match by four wickets. Rahul Dravid became the Player of the Match for his knocks of 233 and 72 not out respectively. Ponting’s other double hundred against India came back in 2012 at the Adelaide Oval. Australia won the Test by 298 runs.
Overall, Ponting scored seven double hundreds in Test cricket and finished his career as one of the greatest batters in Test cricket.
As per Australia most runs record, Ricky Ponting is the leading run-scorer for his country in ODIs. In 374 matches, the right-hander has scored 13589 runs at an average of 41.81 and a strike-rate of 80.19. In fact, he is the only Aussie batter to have scored over 10000 runs in ODIs. Ponting notched his highest ODI score against South Africa back in March 2006.
It was also the game when the Proteas chased down a mammoth target of 435 to come up trumps at the iconic Wanderers Stadium. After opting to bat first, Australia scored 434 runs for the loss of four wickets in 50 overs. But it would not have been possible without Ponting, who fired on all cylinders with the bat in hand.
Ponting scored 164 runs off 105 balls with the help of 13 fours and nine sixes. But his knock went in vain as Herschelle Gibbs’ exceptional 111-ball knock of 175 in the run-chase stole the limelight. Gibbs and Ponting jointly got the Player of the Match award after all sorts of records tumbled on the day in Johannesburg.
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Aaron Finch is the leading run-scorer for Australia in T20Is as per Australia most runs record in T20Is. He has scored 3120 runs from 103 matches at an average of 34.28 and a strike-rate of 142.53. Finch would not be playing anymore for Australia as he has already called it a day from all forms of international cricket.
Finch scored two hundreds, but would be remembered for the knock he played against Zimbabwe way back in July 2018 at the Harare Sports Club. After being sent in to bat first, Australia put up a huge score of 229 for the loss of two wickets. Most of the scoring was done by Finch, who simply looked unstoppable on the day.
Finch got to his half-century off 22 balls after which he brought up his three-figure score off 50 balls. The veteran did not look back from there on and kept going from strength to strength.
Australia most wickets
As per the list of Australia most wickets, Shane Warne is the leading wicket-taker for the Aussies in Test cricket. The veteran spinner, who passed away last year in Thailand due to a suspected heart attack, picked up 708 wickets from 145 matches with 37 five-wicket hauls and ten 10-wicket hauls.
Warne is also known for the ball of the century that he bowled to England’s Mike Gatting when he was still finding his feet in international cricket. Back in November 1994, Warne got his best bowling figures in Tests against England at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Warne finished with figures of 50.2-22-71-8 as Australia went on to win the match by 184 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Warne also bagged the Player of the Match award.
Brett Lee is the leading wicket-taker for Australia in Tests as per Australia most wickets. The fast bowler has picked up 380 wickets from 221 matches at an economy rate of 4.76 with 14 four-wicket hauls and nine five-wicket hauls to show for his efforts. He was one of the fastest bowlers for his generation as he rattled woodworks and cracked helmets plenty times.
Glenn McGrath also has 380 wickets to his name, but has taken 28 more matches than his pace bowling partner. Back in June 2006, Lee notched his best ODI figures of 5/22 against South Africa at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. The speedster finished with stupendous bowling figures of 10-1-22-5 and ripped apart the Proteas batting unit.
Lee won the Player of the Match after Australia beat South Africa by 59 runs. After being asked to chase down 246, the visiting team was bowled out for 186 in 47 overs. Barring Shaun Pollock, who scored 46 runs off 31 balls with the help of one four and four sixes, none of the South African batters posed a threat to Lee and the other Aussie bowlers.
Adam Zampa is the leading wicket-taker for Australia in T20Is. He has picked up 82 wickets from 72 matches thus far in his career at an economy rate of 6.93 with one five-wicket haul to his name. He achieved his best bowling performance in the Group match against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2021 match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Zampa had figures of 4-0-19-5 as Australia bowled Mahmudullah’s Bangladesh out for 73 in 15 overs. Later, the Aussies chased down the target in 6.2 overs to win the match by eight wickets. Zampa bagged the Player of the Match award for his exceptional spell of bowling.
Shane Warne is the leading wicket-taker for Australia across all three formats. IN 338 matches, Warne has picked up 999 wickets with 38 five-wicket hauls and ten 10-wicket hauls. He is only one of the two bowlers along with McGrath to have picked up over 900 wickets for Australia in international cricket. McGrath finished his career with 948 runs at an economy rate of 2.92.
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Australia most centuries
Ricky Ponting holds the record of most hundreds for his country in Test as per Australia most centuries list. He has scored 41 hundreds from 168 Test to go with 62 half-centuries. Ponting loved batting against England, India and South Africa as he racked up eight hundreds each against them. Ponting also racked up seven hundreds from 24 matches against the West Indies.
Ponting scored 2555 runs against India in Tests at an average of 54.36 with 20 scores of 50 plus in the format. At home, Ponting scored 7578 runs from 92 Tests at an average of 56.97 with 23 hundreds and 38 fifties to his name. 2003 was his most prolific year in Test cricket when he scored 1503 runs from 11 Tests at an average of 100.20 with six hundreds and four fifties.
It's hard to forget this magnificent leg-break Shane Warne sent down to Saeed Anwar 20 years ago… #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/ej0EXYQb4X
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 18, 2019
In 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008, Ponting scored over 1000 Test runs in a calendar year. 1996 was the year when he struggled the most, having scored only 163 runs from four matches at an average of 20.37 with only one half-century to his name.
As per Australia most centuries list in ODIs, Ricky Ponting tops the charts with 29 hundreds from 374 matches. Like in Tests, Ponting dominated India in the 50-over format. He scored 2164 runs from 59 games at an average of 40.07 and a strike-rate of 81.41 with six hundreds and nine fifties to show for his efforts.
The knock he played against India in the final of the 2003 World Cup at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg would not be forgotten in a jiffy. Ponting batted well against New Zealand as well, having scored 1971 runs from 51 ODIs at an average of 45.83 and a strike-rate of 81.71 with six centuries and 12 half-centuries.
Back in 2007, Ponting had his best year in ODI cricket. Back then, he scored 1424 runs from 27 matches at an average of 79.11 and a strike-rate of 91.69 with five hundreds and eight fifties to his name. It was also the year when Australia won the World Cup by beating Sri Lanka in the final.
As per Australia most centuries list in T20Is, Glenn Maxwell leads the list with three of them at the highest level. Back in September 2016, Maxwell notched his maiden hundred against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. He scored an unbeaten 145 off 65 balls with the help of 14 fours and nine sixes.
In 2018, Maxwell scored his second T20I hundred against England in Hobart when he scored 103 not out off 58 balls. Back in 2019, Maxwell’s third hundred came against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. In that game, the Victorian scored 113 not out off 55 balls with seven fours and nine sixes.
