For most Australian cricket fans who can remember life before the internet, Michael Bevan’s 1996 New Year’s Day heroics was his signature innings. For the man himself, if that knock gets on the podium, it’s only just.
“I got two or three other innings I feel were probably as good or better but, personally, I was happier with,” Bevan said.
The moment that captivated: Michael Bevan celebrates his four off the last ball to take Australia to victory over the West Indies in an ODI at the SCG in 1996.Credit: Getty Images
That he has so many in the genre is why Bevan, the game’s original “finisher”, has joined other greats from this country’s golden era in Australian cricket’s hall of fame.
Bevan’s induction has come both belatedly and instantly. Though he was eligible for the 2010 hall of fame intake, coming five years after his last international, the criterion was heavily weighted to performances in Tests.
But if a player with Bevan’s record – a one-day international average of 53, two World Cup wins and the No.1 batting ranking for 1259 days from 1999 to 2002 – could not be honoured, then the system needed change – hence the recent review. He is the 66th inductee, and first since the update.
Like most players of high standing, Bevan’s numbers tell only part of his story. For much of his 10-year, 232-game ODI career, he was a pivotal figure in a team that claimed two World Cups and made the final in another.
Michael Bevan (right) celebrates a World Cup victory with Andy Bichel in 2003.Credit: Getty
Even without this honour, which he described as a “welcome surprise”, Bevan’s legacy was lasting. If Dean Jones was the pioneer for pinching singles and twos, the lightning fast Bevan became the best exponent of it. The medal for the best player in the domestic one-day final is now named after him.
The 1999 World Cup is remembered for Steve Waugh’s campaign-saving ton and Shane Warne’s game-changing spell in the semi, but Australia would not have been into a position to tie that famous match without Bevan’s clutch knock of 65.
That innings is not his favourite. Nor is his memorable last-ball effort at the SCG against the West Indies to clinch a one-wicket win, though the affection others hold for that performance has rubbed off.
“It’d be close,” Bevan told this masthead on Sunday. “I would say there’s a number of other innings I was happier with how I hit them or felt the situation was more difficult.”
Bevan prefers his unbeaten 102 off 95 balls after Australia had collapsed to 6-82 chasing 246 against New Zealand in Melbourne, which kept his team alive in the 2002-03 tri-series.
There’s also a 103 he made to clinch a series against South Africa in 1997, and the 185 off 132 deliveries he made for a Rest of the World XI against an Asia XI. That game did not have international or even List A status, so does not sit on his official record.
“I don’t think I could have hit them any better – it was not the normal way I’d played,” Bevan said. “I surprised myself how quickly I could score or what I could do.”
To strategise on the run and work out the boundary zones for various deliveries requires composure, something Bevan did not always have. Teammates coined the term “Bev attacks” to describe the room-clearing tantrums that would often accompany his dismissals. Pads were shoved down toilets.
“I’ve heard those stories, I can’t confirm or deny,” Bevan recalled with a chuckle. “I chucked a tanty pretty often when I was young and definitely got over-angry. That could have happened. I don’t know if they went in the toilet, but there were a few things that were a bit absurd.”
A superhero in the green and gold, Bevan could never crack the code in the baggy green.
Scores of 82, 70 and 91 in his debut series in 1994 against a Pakistan team featuring Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis promised a bright future. An unbeaten 87 on the fiery WACA against Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop was proof he could play high-class pace bowling, yet it was a weakness against the short ball that limited him to 18 Tests and an average of 29. He did not make a century.
Bevan has a different take on his shortcomings. To him, his problem was more mental than technical. This, he said, explained why he could average 55 one series and 18 the next – a fluctuation he described as “not survivable”.
“I played a lot of first-class cricket, faced a lot of short balls, still had a pretty damn good record,” Bevan, who had a first-class average of 57, said. “It wasn’t so much the short ball but how I perceived it and how I placed pressure on myself to play it perfectly or not get out to it.
“That affected my naturalness at the crease. That was the outcome but not the major problem.”
Dumped for a second time from the Test side, Bevan realised his temperament “wasn’t helpful”.
There was a short phase when Bevan waspicked successfully for his unpredictable but dangerous left-arm wrist-spin over his batting. This did not sit comfortably with his sense of self.
“Upon reflection, I was probably too rigid or regimented in not really accepting that I was probably a genuine all-rounder then and rolling with the good fortune that I had with the ball,” Bevan said.
“I spent a lot of time over-obsessing being in the team as a batsman, the short ball. If I had chilled out a bit more I would’ve made a better fist of it.”
Unfortunately for Bevan, his last Test came aged 27. By comparison, Steve Waugh averaged 58 after his 28th birthday compared to 36 before. If Bevan’s time was today, he would have played significantly more Tests, but he has come to terms with his lot.
“At the time I was certainly frustrated but I don’t tend to linger or dwell on the past too much,” Bevan said. “When I reflect on my career, both ODIs and the longer version, I’m pretty proud of what I achieved.”
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