Michael Bevan is easily in the Top 3 Finishers of all time when it comes to limited overs cricket because the amount of matches that this man has made Australia win is enormous and if Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli were not around in the cricket World then he would be number 1, such was his dominance and I loved watching him bat and seeing him find the gaps on the field consistently. Finishing games like this is a special sort of skill and not everyone has that Michael Bevan had that special skill in abundance.
Michael Bevan was the Australian Nightmare and till the time he was in the crease no match was lost for Australia. Every opposition team was fearful of his abilities and how much he could damage them if they have an ounce of complacency. He was a part of the golden era of cricket and to do this regularly against some of the best Bowlers to ever play this game says everything about this all time great. Let’s look at the Top 5 Best batting Performances of Michael Bevan.
78* vs West Indies (1996)
This is a Michael Bevan finish to say the least and only he could have done this from the position Australia were in this ODI match. West Indies made a small score of 172 and Australia needed only 173 but they were reduced to 38/6 abs from there all hopes were in the shoulders of Bevan and what did he do? He won the match for Australia and West Indies would rue the fact that they did not get him out. Michael Bevan made 78* from 88 balls with 6 fours in it and Australia won the match by just a solitary wicket but it's the win that matters.
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102* vs New Zealand (2002)
If you thought that the first innings we mentioned on our list was special, wait till you hear about this incredible hundred and frankly one of the best chasing Hundreds ever. In this match as well New Zealand made 245 in the first innings and Australia needed 246 to win the match and when the score was 53/4 then Bevan walked in and with him being there the score plummeted to 82/6 and all looked lost but then Michael Bevan got into the act and first he stitched a good partnership of 61 with Shane Warne and then a brilliant 81 run stand with Brett Lee and with only 3 balls remaining in the match it was Michael Bevan who hit an unbelievable hundred and won the match for Australia.
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87* vs India (2001)
Unfortunately for all Indian fans , Michael Bevan did not leave out of his hitting list as in this ODI match it looked like Australia were cruising to an easy win when everything went awry as Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting got out in the sahe iver but still Gilchrist and Bevan continued to fight for Australia but after some time wickets started falling regularly as Steve Waugh, Gilchrist and Symonds fell cheaply and again it was Michael Bevan who took Australia home by 4 Wickets. He was an incredible player.
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79* vs Pakistan (1997)
This is the fourth different opponent that Michael Bevan did this to and this time it was the turn of Pakistan to feel the finishing wrath of the great Bevan. Like in the case of the other innings we talked about in this match as well it was Michael Bevan vs Pakistan and in the end Bevan won. It was not easy though as Wickets kept falling from the other end but he kept one end safe by being there till the very end and once again staying not out at 79* chasing a score of 182. I was unfortunate that I did not get to see much of his greatness.
72* vs Sri Lanka (1999)
The fifth Innings in this list a fifth different opponent for Michael Bevan and the good thing was that he did not discriminate against anyone because he did the same thing to all of them but this time it was in the first innings of ah ODI abs Michael Bevan walked out with the score at 138/2 and from there he played aggressive cricket and he scored 72* from only 65 balls and helped Australia get a good 45 run victory. The number of times he has remained not out in his career is simply staggering and he was one of the biggest ever match winners for Australia.
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