The dream contribution of any batter in the match would be scoring a century for his team and ending up on the winning side. From the outside, many may consider the century as a personal milestone for a batter but the story is far from that. Various other factors make a century valuable like it influences the match or impacts psychologically. It’s more than a personal milestone for any player and can be one of the crucial factors for any team to win a game or to put down the opposition’s morale.
In the history of Australian cricket, they have produced some of the best batter. Australians are known for their passionate and aggressive approach towards the game. They are also known for their dominance, especially in making a century.
Here is a list of a few players from Australia who scored centuries in maximum formats:
1. Glenn Maxwell
Glenn James Maxwell, born in October 1988, is a batting allrounder from Australia. He is one of the most fast-paced batters, with some exquisite bowling and fielding talent. Glenn comes off as one of the most fearless batters in his rhythm. He had his share of ups and downs in his career but he is one of the very few batters who has a century in all the formats of the game.
2. David Warner
David Andrew Warner, born in October 1986 is a left-hand explosive batter from Australia. The dirt patch on his career was due to the ball-tampering controversy that brought ban of few years in his uprising career. Despite of all these ups and downs he is one of the few batters who has scored century in all the formats of the game. He is Australia’s most trusted batter in every format in modern-day cricket.
3. Steve Smith
Steven Peter Devereux Smith, born in June 1989, is an Australian batting prodigy after Sir Don Bradman. He initially started his career as a leg spinner but ended up as one of the best batters in the world. One can compare his greatness after seeing his records. He also has centuries in all the formats of the game. Despite many controversial scenarios in his career, he stood tall because of his grit and determination.
4. Shane Watson
Shane Robert Watson, born in June 1981 is one of the best all-rounders from Australia. Before his retirement, he was one of the strikers when present on the strike and, he was as good as the batter he was. He is one of the few people from Australia who has centuries in all the formats. Not only for his home team but he was equally good in all the leagues he played. He retired in 2020 from all the formats of the game.
5. Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting, born in December 1974, is one of the best top-order of this generation and probably one of the great run-getters. He is also one of the very few people with the greatest number of centuries across the format of the game. He has no century in T20 format because of the timing of the T20. It became famous when his career was about to end. His lack of exposure in the format made it quite difficult for him to score any century in that format but it did not affect his legacy.
6. Michael Clarke
Michael John Clarke, born in April 1981 was one of the most incredible middle-order batter in the Australian golden era. He also led Australia in tests and was one of the most successful captains ever. He has 36 total centuries but no T20 century, the explanation would be the same as that of Ricky Ponting. Still, he is on the elite list of Australia’s centurions.
7. Mathew Hayden
Matthew Lawrence Hayden, born in October 1971, was one of the most incredible batters ever. His strength is responsible for all the contributions he has made to Australian cricket. He was one of the best opening batters of his time. Like all the other elite players, T20 was introduced when he retired. With 40 international centuries, he was known, as one of the most destructive batters. He has a world record of scoring 380 runs in a test.
8. Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh, born in June 1965, was a former all-rounder and current commentator from Australia. He comes from a family of cricketing prodigy. One of the best stroke players, Waugh’s name comes under the same elite list as Ricky Ponting, Michael Clark, etc. as the centurion. His teammates gave him the nickname “Junior”. He has a total of 20 centuries under his name. He was also one of the finest slip fielders taking almost 181 catches in his career and the most gifted player in Australian cricketing history.
9. Aaron Finch
Aaron James Finch, born in November 1986 is a top-order batter from Australia and also led the team in white ball. He might not have the smoothest career but he still is Australia’s one of the finest in white ball cricket. He totals 19 centuries across all the formats. Along with his batting, he was also appreciated as a leader. He lagged with few skills to freeze his position in test cricket but he stood tall against the hardships that’s what made him what he is today.
10. Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist, born in November 1971 was Australia’s one of the finest wicket-keeping batters. He was that middle/lower-order batter who would just go and smash the ball. He was magical with both the gloves and the bat. His risk-free attitude made him achieve the position in the elite centurion club of Australian cricket. He totals 33 international centuries across all the formats. His contribution to his national team is appreciated even after his retirement and also inspired a lot of young people to join cricket.
