Michael Bevan inducted into Hall of Fame

[Real McCoy]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/feb/03/michael-bevan-australia-cricket-hall-of-fame-induction

 

Quote

Speaking at the MCG, Bevan said he was “very proud and very grateful” to join Michael Clarke and Christina Matthews as this year’s inductees.

“I’m not sure I truly believed I would play for Australia,” he said. “But I definitely wanted to play for Australia. It was my main focus as a person in my younger years.

“I guess I fell into the [finisher] role or the role found me. That was one of the reasons I was successful.”

Bevan noted he did not appreciate the career-defining and game-changing impact of his New Year’s Day classic at the time, highlighting the 1999 World Cup as one of his most cherished memories.

“We had to win seven matches in a row to win the World Cup final,” he said.

“It was really quite amazing and astounding, the performances of individuals in each of those seven games, under pressure.”

 

About time. He was Dhoni before Dhoni. Ultimate finisher of the ODI game. Watch this classic game on New year's day in 1996.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeGCshykUg

 

He is always a team man since he rates the 99 wc triumph over his last ball 4 in 1996.

[nevada]

What took so long? Dude has been retired for 20+ years! 

[LordPrabhzy]

as a 90s kid this guy gave me nightmares of the never ending aussie batting juggernaut.. yeah get out Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist, Martyn. Waugh and then you have Bevan to deal with

[bowl_out]

The dude that gave me nightmares when Aus was chasing. I was amazed how he was able to consistently get 60s and 70s at almost run a ball without a single boundary.

[Austin 3:!6]

Most deserving. My all time favourite cricketer.

 

People who calls like of Dhoni & Kohli great finishers in ODIs should have seen Bevan bat. It was almost impossible to get him out and was ultimate finisher in white ball cricket. 

[Real McCoy]

1 minute ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Most deserving. My all time favourite cricketer.

 

People who calls like of Dhoni & Kohli great finishers in ODIs should have seen Bevan bat. It was almost impossible to get him out and was ultimate finisher in white ball cricket. 

 

Those days the boundary scoring was not as frequent as today. His last ball 4 is better than any IPL last ball strikes. Also the pitch didnt matter to him. He played on spinning pitches in India, seaming pitches in England, and big grounds in Australia. His method didn't change and he was always there until the last overs.

[Real McCoy]

17 minutes ago, nevada said:

What took so long? Dude has been retired for 20+ years! 

 

The deciding authorities gave test matches a higher weightage until now. Finally his ODI greatness shone over his test performances.

[EnterTheVoid]

Long overdue and well deserved. That last ball 4 straight down the ground to win the match against WI is the stuff of legends.

He was the original 'FINISHER'.

[coffee_rules]

Tormentor-in-chief

[adi B]

My favorite childhood player ,Sala won them the series decider in Goa against us in 2001 .I was so pissed that day !

 

[putrevus]

On 3/3/2025 at 9:15 AM, Austin 3:!6 said:

Most deserving. My all time favourite cricketer.

 

People who calls like of Dhoni & Kohli great finishers in ODIs should have seen Bevan bat. It was almost impossible to get him out and was ultimate finisher in white ball cricket. 

No Bevan was not better than Dhoni forget Kohli.They are not in same ball park.

[Gollum]

IMO, a HOFer should have some body of work in test cricket. 

[Ultimate_Game]

9 minutes ago, Gollum said:

IMO, a HOFer should have some body of work in test cricket. 

 

Not necessarily. Times have changed and that's the reason why Bevan was kept out of Hall of Fame for so long. The 3 formats are like different sports and require different skill sets. People assume Tests is the pinnacle but that's not true anymore and you need skill sets to succeed in ODIs and T20s too.

 

I can very well see someone like Abhishel getting into HoF based on T20s alone.Performances in Tests shouldn't be a requisite given Tests is on the wane and T20s are the most popular format.

[Muloghonto]

Definitely deserved and definitely the OG finisher, but today he wouldnt be a finisher but #4.
Bevan was one of the fastest runners between wickets ever and an excellent judge of singles and probably the best strike rotator i've ever seen in ODIs. but bevan had a serious flaw- he couldnt hit big shots or time balls well enough to get timed fours often. His normal scoring pattern for big scores was like 80 not out off of 100 balls, hitting 3 fours and 0 sixes).

Even in the 90s, when RR got to near six, Bevan struggled due to this. Today, he would make an ideal #4 of a batter- the guy who comes in and sees most of the middle over and rotates strike at will.

 

[Suhaan]

8 hours ago, putrevus said:

No Bevan was not better than Dhoni forget Kohli.They are not in same ball park.

Thala Tony is way overrated

[rollingstoned]

Never made sense to me why he didnt succeed in tests. 

Edited March 5, 2025 by rollingstoned

[crictime]

One of the best ODI batsman of his era. Still remember his fighting partnership with Steven Waugh against South Africa at Centurion. Incredibly paced chase for those times which featured excellent display of strike rotation.