playername	Michael Hussey
country	Australia
fullname	Michael Edward Killeen Hussey
nickname	Mr. Cricket, Huss
living	true
dayofbirth	27
monthofbirth	5
yearofbirth	1975
placeofbirth	Mount Lawley, Western Australia
countryofbirth	Australia
heightft	5
heightinch	11
batting	Left-handed
bowling	Right-arm medium
international	true
role	Batsman
family	DJ Hussey (brother)
testdebutdate	3 November
testdebutyear	2005
testdebutagainst	West Indies
testcap	393
lasttestdate	24 January
lasttestyear	2012
lasttestagainst	India
odidebutdate	1 February
odidebutyear	2004
odidebutagainst	India
odicap	150
lastodidate	19 February
lastodiyear	2012
lastodiagainst	India
odishirt	48
club1	Western Australia
year1	1994 –
clubnumber1	2
club2	Northamptonshire
year2	2001–2003
club3	Gloucestershire
year3	2004
club4	Durham
year4	2005
club5	Chennai Super Kings
year5	2008–Present
clubnumber5	48
club6	Perth Scorchers
year6	2011–Present
deliveries	balls
columns	4
column1	Tests
matches1	73
runs1	5,708
bat avg1	50.07
100s/50s1	16/28
top score1	195
deliveries1	510
wickets1	7
bowl avg1	34.28
fivefor1	0
tenfor1	0
best bowling1	1/0
catches/stumpings1	73/–
column2	ODI
matches2	181
runs2	5,262
bat avg2	48.27
100s/50s2	3/37
top score2	109*
deliveries2	234
wickets2	2
bowl avg2	113.50
fivefor2	0
tenfor2	0
best bowling2	1/22
catches/stumpings2	103/–
column3	FC
matches3	261
runs3	21,853
bat avg3	52.15
100s/50s3	58/99
top score3	331*
deliveries3	1,962
wickets3	27
bowl avg3	37.74
fivefor3	0
tenfor3	0
best bowling3	3/34
catches/stumpings3	284/–
column4	LA
matches4	374
runs4	11,908
bat avg4	44.43
100s/50s4	12/88
top score4	123
deliveries4	780
wickets4	20
bowl avg4	41.05
fivefor4	0
tenfor4	0
best bowling4	3/52
catches/stumpings4	196/–
date	28 April
year	2012
source	http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5939.html Cricinfo }}

Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975) is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective formats, with 15,313 first-class runs before making his Test debut. However, he has had a highly successful international career, being the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world in 2006. He plays first-class cricket as vice-captain of the Western Warriors in Australia and has played for three counties in England. He also plays in the Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super Kings, although he opted out of the 2009 season. He was retained by Chennai Super Kings in the 2011–2012 season of Indian Premier League for $425,000 at auctions held in January 2011.

Pre-Test career[link]

Hussey initially played for his native Western Australian Warriors, and his career total of 6471 runs ranks eighth in the list of that state's run-makers in the Sheffield Shield. He then moved to England, where in July 2001 he scored an unbeaten 329 (a Northamptonshire club record) at Wantage Road in his side's 633 for six declared on the way to a 10-wicket victory. He later captained Northamptonshire. In August 2003 he surpassed his own Northamptonshire record, when he scored 331 not out against Somerset at Taunton.

When Hussey was playing for the second-string national team, Allan Border once jokingly suggested he get match practice by staying in the nets for a full six hours; to his astonishment, Hussey went on to do just that. Hussey started out as a right-handed batsman but turned himself into a left-hander as he is greatly inspired by Border.

International career[link]

Hussey earned a Cricket Australia contract in 2004–05 after excelling in the ING Cup. Statistically, Hussey's international career has been very successful, with his career batting average in tests being 52.16 and in ODIs 51.93 as of June 2010. He is a very occasional medium pace bowler, bowling only 28 overs in his Test career, 23 of them in 2008. He is brought into the attack usually to give the pace bowlers a rest, although he was once brought on in India to stop Ricky Ponting getting a one-match ban for a slow over rate. On 28 December 2008, Day 3 of the Boxing Day test, he got his first test wicket, Paul Harris caught by Mitchell Johnson. He ended with figures of 1/22. He has taken two wickets in One Day Internationals.

One-day internationals[link]

Hussey debuted for the Australian One-day team against India on 1 February 2004 at his home WACA ground in Perth. In this match Hussey made 17* helping Australia win the match by five wickets.

In the third Super Series match on 9 October 2005, Hussey became the first person to hit the roof of the Telstra Dome (the ICC World XI's Makhaya Ntini was the bowler in this case). On 6 February 2006, he tied with Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee on 22 votes for the Australian One-Day Player of the Year at the annual Allan Border Medal presentation. However, Symonds was ruled ineligible after an alcohol-related indiscretion, and after Lee and Gilchrist were eliminated on countback, Hussey was named the outright winner. Hussey had also come second overall in the Allan Border medal his first year in international cricket. On 3 November 2006, Hussey became the ICC's ODI Player of the Year at the annual ICC Awards in Mumbai. He was also named in its World ODI XI in 2006 and as 12th man in 2007.

Many tip Hussey to be the next ODI and Test captain of Australia and on 18 September 2006, owing to Australia's rotation policy, and in Ricky Ponting's absence, Hussey captained Australia for the first time in the DLF Cup second round match against West Indies at Kuala Lumpur. Australia lost the game by three wickets, but Hussey and Brad Haddin put together a sixth-wicket partnership of 165, a world record for that wicket in all ODIs.

In the 2007 Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series, Australia were in trouble while chasing a target against England, and in a later match New Zealand. Both times Hussey guided the Australians to victory, and on both occasions was the only recognised batsman at the crease at the end of the match.

Hussey led Australia in the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy after selectors rested captain Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist. The first match against New Zealand saw a 10-wicket loss, the first time Australia had lost by this margin in their One Day International history, although Hussey top scored with 42 off 96 balls. Hussey's record as captain was further marred when Australia lost the top place in the ODI rankings to South Africa for the first time since they were introduced in 2002 after losing to New Zealand two days later. Hussey top-scored for Australia with an aggressive 105 off 84 before another loss in the final match left him with a captaincy record of four losses from four matches.

In early 2007, Hussey had a major slump in form with an average of only eight in over 10 innings, which scarcely improved in the World Cup where he gained an average of 17.4 with 87 runs. However, this was also due to a lack of opportunities to bat because of Australia's top-order dominance.

In the fourth ODI in the Commonwealth Bank Series played at the MCG on 10 February 2008 against India, Australia's top order and middle order collapsed, which saw Hussey come in at 5/72 with the side in deep trouble. He made a 53-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Brett Lee (which was the highest partnership of the innings) until Lee fell to Pathan. Hussey batted through the rest of the innings, making an unbeaten 65 off 88 being the only Australian to really contribute to the poor total of 159.

In the first ODI of the 2008 Bangladesh ODI series, Hussey top-scored with 85 and received the man-of-the-match award. This coincided with his rise to second in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI player rankings.

After initially being left out, Michael Hussey was named in the Australian 2011 World Cup squad as the replacement of Doug Bollinger after recovering from hamstring injury that needed surgery.

On 19 February, Michael Hussey becane the 13th batsman to score 5000 runs for Australia in ODI cricket, when he scored 59 runs against India at the Gabba.

Tests[link]

Hussey made his Test debut at the Gabba in Brisbane on 3 November 2005, as a replacement for fellow Western Australian batsman Justin Langer in the Australia vs. West Indies series. In the first innings Hussey managed only one run, caught by Denesh Ramdin off the bowling of Daren Powell. In the second innings Hussey turned in an unimpressive 29. In the following Test, at Bellerive Oval (Tasmania) he scored 137 and 31* and was named man of the match. In the third Test at Adelaide Oval, Hussey was moved down the order to number five to accommodate the return of Langer. He made 133 not out in the first innings and 30 not out in the second, bringing his Test average to 120.

Since being moved down the order, Hussey has proved invaluable to the Australian team, often building impressive partnerships with the tail-end batsmen, the most impressive being a 107-run 10th-wicket partnership with Glenn McGrath in the second Test in South Africa's 2005–06 tour of Australia. Hussey continued his remarkable batting with tail-enders against Bangladesh in their Spring 2006 2-Test series when he and Jason Gillespie (as a nightwatchman) put together a 320-run partnership, with Hussey making a career-best 182.

On 18 April 2006 Hussey set a record as the fastest player in terms of time to reach 1,000 Test runs. He reached the milestone in just 166 days. Hussey was also the fastest player to reach the top 10 of the LG ICC cricket ratings. He maintained an exceptional average of 105.25 in the 2006–07 Ashes series, which Australia won 5–0.

In the second Test of the 2006–07 Ashes, Hussey made 91 before he was bowled (playing on) by Matthew Hoggard and fell nine runs short of his fifth Test century. In the second innings Australia was chasing 168 off 35 overs for victory for a chance to go 2–0 up in the series. After the fall of two early wickets, Ponting and Hussey, who was promoted to No. 4 instead of Damien Martyn, formed a steady partnership to guide Australia to victory. Ponting fell on 49 but the battle was well over. Hussey scored the winning runs and made 61 not out from 66 balls. His partner, Michael Clarke, scored 21 not out.

On 16 December Hussey scored 103 runs off 156 balls—his fifth Test century—on the third day of the third match of the series at the WACA Ground in Perth. On 6 January 2007 after Australia's 5–0 Ashes whitewash, Justin Langer anointed Hussey to be the next leader of the team's victory song Under the Southern Cross I Stand.

In the first Test of the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy against Sri Lanka, Hussey scored his sixth Test century with a score of 133 runs off 249 balls. He was also part of a record-breaking fourth-wicket partnership with Clarke. Their 245-run partnership is the third-highest partnership for Australia against Sri Lanka in Test matches. In the following match of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, Hussey scored his seventh Test century with a score of 132 and following it up in the second innings with 34 not out.

On 6 January 2008, at the SCG, Hussey scored his eighth Test century against India. This was the first time he scored more than 50 runs at that ground. He ended up not out on 145, before Ponting declared. However, in the first innings of the next Test he scored his first Test duck.

Hussey claimed his first Test wicket against South Africa on the third day of the 2008 Boxing Day Test at the MCG, when Paul Harris skied a ball over Mitchell Johnson's head and the latter ran back and took a running catch as the ball fell down past his shoulder.

Hussey played in all five of Ashes Test matches in England in 2009, scoring 276 runs in 8 innings. This gave him an average of 34.5. This included a century in Australia's second innings in the Fifth and final Test at The Oval where he scored 121, potentially saving his Test career after a long run without a century. He also scored two half centuries at Lord's in the Second Test, which England won, and in the Third Test at Edgbaston, which ended in a draw. He also took five catches in the field.

In the summer of 2009/10 Hussey scored his tenth test century. Australia were playing Pakistan and were losing badly when Hussey proved yet again that he was brilliant with the tail end, scoring an unbeaten 134. This innings with Peter Siddle who scored 38 potentially saved the match as Australia went from a terrible position to a reasonable one and ended up winning the match with Michael Hussey named man of the match for his heroic effort.

In the first Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy against the West Indies in 2009 at the Gabba, Hussey took his second Test wicket after Dwayne Bravo hooked a short ball straight to deep backward square leg which was caught comfortably by Ben Hilfenhaus.

Prior to the 2010/11 Ashes series, Hussey was experiencing poor form in the warm-up games and many were speculating that he should be dropped, but he was not. In the first test, he scored a magnificent 195, his highest test score, in a partnership of 307 with Brad Haddin, the highest partnership ever at the Gabba, later broken by Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott in the next innings; the test ended in a draw. In the second test, he scored 93 in the first innings following up with a 52 in the next. The next match, he helped Australia to a 267 run win scoring 61 and 116.

In the 2011 tour (3 test series) of Sri Lanka, he scored 95 & 15 in the first test which rewarded him with the Man of the Match honour. In the second test he made 142 and took two wickets, including a vital one in Kumar Sangakkara, and took a spectacular one-handed full length diving catch in the gully and also being rewarded with the Man of the Match honour. In the third test, he made 118 in the 1st innings.

In the first Test Match of 2012, Hussey scored an unbeaten 150* to help the Aussies to 659/4(dec). He was involved in a 344 run partnership with Michael Clarke, who managed to score an unbeaten 329*. He was praised for his efforts and he once again cemented himself in the team after being under some serious pressure from critics and selectors.

Twenty 20 Internationals[link]

Hussey was part of Australia's 2007 ICC World Twenty20 squad which was knocked out in the semi-finals. He played in all of Australia's matches, scoring 65 runs with a best of 37 before injuring a hamstring, which prevented his participation in Australia's tour of India that followed.

In May 2010, he scored 60 runs off 24 balls in the semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 to help defeat Pakistan and secure a place for Australia in the final. It is considered to be one of the most stunning run chases in Twenty20 cricket.

Indian Premier League[link]

He also plays for the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and he became only the second batsman to score a century in the competition, after New Zealand's Brendon McCullum. He scored 116 not out against the team Kings XI Punjab.

Hussey chose to play for his Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings instead of his Australian state side Western Warriors in the inaugural Champions Twenty20 League although the 2008 event was eventually cancelled and neither side qualified in 2009.

Hussey due to national duties was unable to play the second edition of the Indian Premier League.

Hussey joined the Chennai Super Kings for the second half of the 2010 Indian Premier League along with fellow team-mate Doug Bollinger to reverse the fortunes of the side which eventually went on to win the title that year.

In the 2010 Champions League Twenty20, Michael Hussey replaced Matthew Hayden and opened the innings for the side along with Murali Vijay. He played a crucial knock in the group-clash against the Chevrolet Warriors which was a must-win game for the Chennai Super Kings. Hussey's innings fetched him the Man of the match award and helped the Chennai Super Kings to proceed to the knockout stage where they got to win the league altogether.

In IPL 2011 he is the fifth highest run getter in all IPL matches. He has scored 492 runs from his fourteen innings. His highest score is 81 not out against the RCB. He has scored four half centuries and three man of the matches as well.He also created a good patnership record with Murali Vijay in the 2011 Ipl Final.

Personal life[link]

Hussey is married to Amy and has three children. His father is a former athletics coach and his younger brother, David, is also a professional cricketer who plays for Victoria, Nottinghamshire, Kings XI Punjab and Australia. Prior to his entry into first-class cricket, Hussey studied to become a science teacher. He is also a fan of Manchester United due to his dad.

"Mr Cricket"[link]

Hussey has the nicknames Huss, The Huss and Mr Cricket, the last due to his encyclopaedic knowledge of his sport. He has repeatedly stated that he dislikes the nickname finding it "a bit embarrassing". England rival Andrew Flintoff and Graeme Swann's brother Alec were reportedly responsible for coining it. The soubriquet appeared on the back of his shirt in the Twenty20 international against South Africa in 2006, in which all the players displayed their nicknames. During the 2007 Twenty20 against England, however, he was seen with Huss on his shirt instead, further suggesting he is fed up with the tag Mr Cricket. Nevertheless, the nickname features prominently in his television ads for the national real estate chain L.J. Hooker.

International centuries[link]

Test Cricket[link]

2 133* 122 182 103 133 132 145* 146 121 134* 195 116 142 118 150*

Michael Hussey's Test Centuries.
style="width:40px;"	!! style="width:50px;"|Runs !! style="width:50px;"|Match !! style="width:125px;"|Against !! style="width:150px;"|City/Country !! style="width:200px;"|Venue !! style="width:50px;"|Year
[1]	137	|		Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2005
[2]	|	3		Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2005
[3]	|	5		Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	2005
[4]	|	11		Chittagong, Bangladesh	Chittagong Divisional Stadium	2006
[5]	|	14		Perth, Western Australia>Perth, Australia	The WACA	2006
[6]	|	17		Brisbane, Australia	The Gabba	2007
[7]	|	18		Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2007
[8]	|	20		Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2008
[9]	|	27		Bangalore, India	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Australian cricket team in India in 2008–09>2008
[10]	|	42		London, England	The Oval	2009 Ashes series>2009
[11]	|	47		Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	Pakistani cricket team in Australia in 2009–10>2010
[12]	|	55		Brisbane, Australia	The Gabba	2010–11 Ashes series>2010
[13]	|	57		Perth, Western Australia>Perth, Australia	The WACA	2010–11 Ashes series>2010
[14]	|	61		Kandy, Sri Lanka	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium	2011
[15]	|	62		Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2011
[16]	|	68		Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2012

One Day International centuries[link]

41 105 108

Michael Hussey's One Day International Centuries.
style="width:auto;"	!! style="width:auto;"|Runs !! style="width:auto;"|Match !! style="width:125px;"|Against !! style="width:150px;"|City/Country !! style="width:200px;"|Venue !! style="width:50px;"|Year
[1]	109*	|		Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Kinrara Academy Oval	2006
[2]	|	60		Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	2007
[3]	|	158		Dhaka, Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium	2011

References[link]

External links[link]

Super Series 2005 – Australian Squad from Cricinfo

Category:Australia One Day International cricketers Category:Australia Test cricketers Category:Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Durham cricketers Category:Durham cricket captains Category:Gloucestershire cricketers Category:Northamptonshire cricketers Category:Northamptonshire cricket captains Category:Western Australia cricketers Category:Australian cricket captains Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:Chennai cricketers Category:Australian cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Category:People from Perth, Western Australia

de:Michael Hussey fr:Michael Hussey hi:माइक हसी mr:मायकेल हसी pnb:ماہیکل ہسی pl:Michael Hussey ta:மைக்கேல் ஹசி ur:مائيکل ہسی

playername	Shane Watson
country	Australia
fullname	Shane Robert Watson
nickname	Watto, Danger man
living	true
dayofbirth	17
monthofbirth	6
yearofbirth	1981
placeofbirth	Ipswich, Queensland
countryofbirth	Australia
heightm	1.83
weightkg	93
batting	Right-hand
bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
role	All-rounder (Opening batsmen)
international	true
testdebutdate	2 January
testdebutyear	2005
testdebutagainst	Pakistan
testcap	391
lasttestdate	17 November
lasttestyear	2011
lasttestagainst	South Africa
odidebutdate	24 March
odidebutyear	2002
odidebutagainst	South Africa
odicap	148
lastodidate	4 March
lastodiyear	2012
lastodiagainst	Sri Lanka
odishirt	33
t20idebutdate	24 February
t20idebutyear	2006
t20idebutagainst	South Africa
t20icap	19
lastt20idate	8 August
lastt20iyear	2011
lastt20iagainst	Sri Lanka
club1	Tasmania
year1	2001–2004
club2	Queensland
year2	2004–2009
club3	Hampshire
year3	2005
club4	Rajasthan Royals
year4	2008–
club5	New South Wales
year5	2009–
club6	Sydney Sixers
year6	2011–
columns	4
column1	Test
matches1	32
runs1	2,135
bat avg1	38.12
100s/50s1	2/16
top score1	126
deliveries1	3,164
wickets1	56
bowl avg1	28.01
fivefor1	3
tenfor1	0
best bowling1	6/33
catches/stumpings1	24/–
column2	ODI
matches2	144
runs2	4,288
bat avg2	42.50
100s/50s2	6/25
top score2	185*
deliveries2	5,036
wickets2	138
bowl avg2	29.55
fivefor2	0
tenfor2	0
best bowling2	4/36
catches/stumpings2	47/–
column3	FC
matches3	100
runs3	7,186
bat avg3	45.19
100s/50s3	17/40
top score3	203*
deliveries3	9,389
wickets3	189
bowl avg3	27.37
fivefor3	7
tenfor3	1
best bowling3	7/69
catches/stumpings3	81/–
column4	List A
matches4	205
runs4	6,055
bat avg4	40.09
100s/50s4	8/36
top score4	185*
deliveries4	6,922
wickets4	180
bowl avg4	31.99
fivefor4	0
tenfor4	0
best bowling4	4/36
catches/stumpings4	66/–
date	22 November
year	2011
source	http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/8180.html Cricinfo }}

Shane Robert Watson (born 17 June 1981) is an Australian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast medium bowler. He mainly bats as an opener in international cricket, although he does not do so domestically.

He debuted for the Australian cricket team in 2002, playing his first One Day International against South Africa. While he has become a regular member of the one-day squad, Watson has played few Test Matches for Australia, having debuted against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2005. Despite being allocated to be Australia's designated Test all-rounder, injuries have often prevented him from claiming his position in the Test team. However, from the second half of 2009, Watson has acted as Australian Test opening batsman, along with Simon Katich.

Watson was awarded the 2010 Allan Border Medal and again in 2011, becoming the second player (after Ricky Ponting) to win back-to back Allan Border Medals. Watson's wife Lee, whom he married on 3 June 2010, is a Fox Sports Australia presenter.

Playing career[link]

Early career[link]

Watson was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 2000. He started his first-class cricketing career for Tasmania after leaving his home state of Queensland, but returned to play for his native Queensland as his international career was beginning. He has also played for Hampshire in the English County Championship in 2005. He regards Terry Alderman as one of his mentors.

International career[link]

Watson was selected for his first Australian team in early 2002, being selected to tour South Africa with the Test team after topping the Pura Cup wicket-taking charts for Tasmania, as well as steady middle-order batting performances. Australian captain at the time Steve Waugh stated that Watson would possibly be Australia's first genuine all rounder since Keith Miller and Alan Davidson in the 1950s. Watson expressed joy at being selected in an Australian team with Waugh, whom he cited as his idol. Watson scored an unbeaten century on his debut in a tour match, but did not play in the Tests as the selectors retained the same XI that had swept South Africa 3–0 in the Australian season. Watson did make his ODI debut on tour, ironically replacing Waugh, who was sacked after the team failed to make the ODI finals in the preceding Australian summer. Watson continued as a regular member of the ODI team until he suffered three stress fractures in his back, at the start of 2003, missing the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He was replaced by his Queensland teammate Andrew Symonds, who proceeded to establish his position as the all rounder after scoring 143* and 91* during the tournament.

Watson's injury sidelined him until the 2003–04 Australian season, and during his rehabilitation he played most of the season as a batsman, allowing himself to improve his batting skills while his back was still healing. During this time he smashed an unbeaten 300* for his club side, Lindisfarne.

Watson returned to regular ODI duty in the 2004–05 season, as a bowling all rounder. He also played in the Third Test against Pakistan as the fifth bowler, in order to allow Australia to play two spinners and three pace bowlers on a dry Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.

Following England's Ashes victory over Australia in 2005 with a five bowler strategy, Australia responded by including Watson as the fifth bowler and all rounder in all Test matches. Watson stated his intention to emulate Andrew Flintoff, who played the analogous role for England. Watson played against the ICC World XI in the role, but he dislocated his shoulder in just his second Test in that designated role against the West Indies, after diving to field a ball. Watson was again replaced by Symonds and was unable to represent Australia for the remainder of the summer.

He was recalled for the one day squad for the 2006 tour of South Africa but was dropped when all-rounder Andrew Symonds returned from injury. Watson was looking to establish a place in the Test side when he got injured, and Andrew Symonds stepped in to fill the gap.

Watson had been previously criticised for his relatively flat bowling trajectory and inability to move the ball, reflected in his relatively high bowling average. Jamie Cox, a former Tasmanian team-mate and future Australian selector, felt that Watson was being mis-used as a bowling allrounder, believing that he was better suited as a conventional batsman and part-timer bowler, rather than a bowler who engaged in power hitting in the latter part of an innings.

This changed when Watson opened the batting for Australia at the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, alongside wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, instead of Simon Katich. In the competition he impressed with both the ball and bat, as Australia moved to their first Champions Trophy victory. Critics and captain Ricky Ponting cited his better strike rate, straight hitting and the ability to bowl as the reasons why he was selected ahead of Katich. After failing in the first two matches against the West Indies and England, Watson made a 50 in Australia's victory over India, which sealed their place in the semi-finals, and in the 2009 Champions Trophy was held in South Africa, Watson again played a prominent role, making two consecutive 100s against England and New-Zealand in semi-final and final, helping Australia to defend their title.

Ponting suggested that Watson would bat at the number 6 position in the Ashes series against England in 2006–07, and he was named in the squad. However, he came off the ground in a one-day domestic game the week before the first Test with a suspected hamstring tear, which ruled him out for the first three Tests. Michael Clarke was called up in Watson's place, and responded with a half-century, and then a century to cement Clarke's place in the team.

Watson was expected to be fit for the fourth Test on Boxing Day and the MCG in Melbourne, and because of Damien Martyn's unexpected retirement, it looked likely that Watson would be included in the side. However, another injury setback in a match for Queensland ruled Watson out for the rest of the Ashes series. Watson eventually returned in February to the ODI side, replacing Cameron White in the all rounder position, However he again broke down with injury during the 2007 Cricket World Cup and missed most of the Super 8's before returning in fine style smashing an unbeaten 65 off 32 balls against New Zealand. Injury again struck Watson in the early stages of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 as he missed most of the tournament due to hamstring strain.‎ He was then out of action for the 2007–08 Australian season.

After Symonds was omitted from the Australian team for disciplinary reasons, and Watson took the all rounder's position for the tour of India in late-2008, batting at No. 6. During the Third Test in Delhi, he was involved in a series of confrontations with Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, who scored a double century and reached his century by lofting Watson over midwicket for six. During the innings, Gambhir elbowed Watson while going for a run, and claimed that the incident was not intentional at a press conference, and claiming that Watson had no capacity to dismiss him. He later pleaded guilty and was banned for one match.

After returning to Australia, Symonds was recalled to the Test team and both all rounders played in the First Test against New Zealand in Brisbane. As the pitch was a green, rain-affected moist surface expected to favour seamers, spinner Jason Krejza was dropped to accommodate two seam bowling all rounders. After the match, which Australia won, Watson was dropped as spinner Nathan Hauritz was included and Symonds retained. Symonds continued to perform poorly, and there were calls for Watson to take his place, but both men then fell injured at the end of the year, Watson with a stress fracture. Watson returned to international duty in the ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE, scoring a century.

He returned to the Australian Test side for the 3rd Ashes Test match at Edgbaston on 30 July 2009 when he replaced opener Phillip Hughes who had been struggling for form. In a rain interrupted match he made 62 and 53 batting alongside Simon Katich. He scored his second highest Test score of 96 against the West Indies in the Second Test in Adelaide in December 2009. He and Katich put on a century stand and he had reached 96 at stumps, only to inside edge his first ball of the next morning onto his stumps while attempting to hit a boundary to reach his century. In the Third Test, he made 89 in another century stand with Katich. In the second innings, he removed opposition captain Chris Gayle and then charged towards him, screaming in celebration directly in front of him. This earned him a fine from the match referee, and considerable criticism from much of the Australian public.

In the First Test against Pakistan, he made 93 runs on Boxing Day and featured in his third century stand in as many matches with Katich, but was run out after a mix-up with Katich in which both players ended up running towards the same end, again falling short of his debut Test hundred. On Day four, Watson finally made his first Test hundred. He went to lunch sitting on 98* and including the lunch break was stuck in the 90s for 106 minutes. After the lunch break he got to 99, and was then stuck there and could only get dot balls. He brought up his debut Test century in interesting style, hitting the ball hard to Abdur Rauf at point who put the catch down. The ball spilled away and gave Watson enough time to run through for the single he needed. His century came after 293 minutes off 186 balls with 9 fours and a six. When Ponting declared, he remained not out, making 120. Watson was awarded man of the match on 30 December for his role in Australia's Test victory.

In the second innings of the Second Test at the SCG, Watson fell short of another century, dismissed for 97. During this Test, the Australian Cricket Media Association presented Watson with Australian Cricketer of the Year Award.

In the first test of Australia's 2010 tour of India, Watson opened his account with his second test century – an attritional 126 runs off 338 balls on a slow, low Mohali pitch. The innings capped an excellent start to the tour, as he also scored a century in each innings of the warm-up match, albeit at a much brisker pace. He topscored again in the second innings with a run-a-ball 56, which proved vital in setting a competitive target as Australia's middle order again collapsed in spectacular fashion following his dismissal.

On 30 March 2011, Watson was named test and ODI vice-captain. On 11 April 2011 he made 185 not out off 96 balls against Bangladesh. Watson hit 15 sixes in this innings, breaking the record previously held by Xavier Marshall. He also scored the highest one day international score by an Australian batsman passing Matthew Hayden's score of 181 not out set in 2007.

Indian Premier League[link]

Watson played in the Indian Premier League for the Rajasthan Royals team. Signed up for US $125,000, he performed well with both the bat and the ball scoring four half-centuries to anchor his team to victory in three matches of the tournament and in the semifinals. He also picked up 17 wickets, won four man of the match awards in his first twelve games and also won the Man of the Series award.

On the back of his IPL performance, Watson was subsequently selected to replace Matthew Hayden in the one day series as part of Australia's tour to the West Indies, after Hayden had injured himself during the IPL season. Watson went on to establish himself as an ODI opener in the series.

Watson missed the second IPL season due to national duty and injury, and Rajasthan failed to reach the top four in the qualifying rounds. For 2011 season, Rajasthan Royals successfully retained Shane Watson along with the skipper Shane Warne.

Achievements[link]

Test Centuries[link]

15 126

Test Match Centuries of Shane Watson
		style="width:40px;"	# !! style="width:50px;"|Runs !! style="width:50px;"|Match !! style="width:110px;"|Against !! style="width:200px;"|City/Country !! style="width:200px;"|Venue !! style="width:50px;"|Year !! style="width:100px;"|Home/Away
1	120*	|		Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	2009	Home
2	|	21		Mohali, India	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium	2010	Away

ODI Centuries[link]

69 116* 136* 105* 161* 185*

ODI Match Centuries of Shane Watson
		style="width:40px;"	# !! style="width:50px;"|Runs !! style="width:50px;"|Match !! style="width:110px;"|Against !! style="width:200px;"|City/Country !! style="width:200px;"|Venue !! style="width:50px;"|Year !! style="width:100px;"|Home/Away/Neutral
1	126	|		Grenada, West Indies	Queen's Park, Grenada>National Cricket Stadium	Australian cricket team in West Indies in 2008>2008	Away
2	|	77		Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	Australian cricket team against Pakistan in UAE in 2009>2009	Neutral
3	|	89		Centurion, Gauteng>Centurion, South Africa	SuperSport Park	2009 ICC Champions Trophy>2009	Neutral
4	|	90		Centurion, South Africa	SuperSport Park	2009	Neutral
5	|	118		Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	English cricket team in Australia in 2010–11>2011	Home
6	|	132		Dhaka, Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium	Australian cricket team in Bangladesh in 2011>2011	Away

Test 5-Wicket Hauls[link]

{|class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;" width:"100%" !colspan=8|Shane Watson's Test 5-Wicket Hauls |- ! width="40"| # !! width="50"|Figures !! width="50"|Match !! width="110"|Against !! width="200"|City/Country !! width="200"|Venue !! width="50"|Year !! width="100"|Result |- | 1 || 5–40 || 19 || || London, England || Lord's || 2010 || Win |- | 2 || 6–33 || 20 || || Leeds, England || Headingley Stadium || 2010 || Loss |- | 3 || 5–17 || 31 || || Cape Town, South Africa || Newlands Cricket Ground || 2011 || Loss |}

At the Allan Border Medal night of 2010, he won the one day player of the year, was runner up for the Test player of the year and won the Allan Border Medal.

References[link]

External links[link]

Cricinfo page on Shane Watson

Shane Watson profile at cricket.com.au

Category:Australia One Day International cricketers Category:Australia Test cricketers Category:Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Australian cricket captains Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:Queensland cricketers Category:Tasmania cricketers Category:New South Wales cricketers Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:Rajasthan (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:People from Ipswich, Queensland Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Category:Australian cricketers Category:Allan Border Medal winners Category:Australian Institute of Sport alumni

fr:Shane Watson hi:शेन वॉटसन kn:ಶೇನ್ ವ್ಯಾಟ್ಸನ್ mr:शेन वॉट्सन pnb:شین واٹسن pl:Shane Watson ta:ஷேன் வாட்சன்

playername	Shaun Marsh
country	Australia
fullname	Shaun Edward Marsh
nickname	SOS (Son of Swampy)
living	true
dayofbirth	09
monthofbirth	07
yearofbirth	1983
placeofbirth	Narrogin, Western Australia
countryofbirth	Australia
heightm	1.84
family	GR Marsh (father)MR Marsh (brother)M Marsh (sister)SM Ervine (brother-in-law)
batting	Left-hand opening bat
bowling	Slow left-arm orthodox
role	Opening batsman
international	true
testdebutdate	8 September
testdebutyear	2011
testdebutagainst	Sri Lanka
testcap	422
lasttestdate	24 January
lasttestyear	2012
lasttestagainst	India
odidebutdate	24 June
odidebutyear	2008
odidebutagainst	West Indies
odicap	165
lastodidate	28 October
lastodiyear	2011
lastodiagainst	South Africa
odishirt	9
club1	Western Australia
year1	2000–present
clubnumber1	20
club2	Kings XI Punjab
year2	2008–present
clubnumber2	14
club3	Perth Scorchers
year3	2011–present
deliveries	balls
columns	5
column1	Test
matches1	7
runs1	301
bat avg1	27.36
100s/50s1	1/1
top score1	141
deliveries1	–
wickets1	–
bowl avg1	–
fivefor1	–
tenfor1	–
best bowling1	–
catches/stumpings1	4/–
column2	ODI
matches2	36
runs2	1,274
bat avg2	36.40
100s/50s2	2/8
top score2	112
deliveries2	–
wickets2	–
bowl avg2	–
fivefor2	–
tenfor2	–
best bowling2	–
catches/stumpings2	8/–
column3	T20I
matches3	8
runs3	108
bat avg3	13.50
100s/50s3	–/–
top score3	29
deliveries3	–
wickets3	–
bowl avg3	–
fivefor3	–
tenfor3	–
best bowling3	–
catches/stumpings3	1/–
column4	FC
matches4	69
runs4	4,089
bat avg4	37.51
100s/50s4	7/23
top score4	166*
deliveries4	174
wickets4	2
bowl avg4	65.50
fivefor4	0
tenfor4	0
best bowling4	2/20
catches/stumpings4	56/–
source	http://www.espncricinfo.com/aus/content/current/player/6683.html Cricinfo
date	4 February
year	2012 }}

Shaun Edward Marsh (born 9 July 1983) is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Western Warriors in Australian domestic cricket and has represented Australia at Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International levels. The left-handed opening batsman is the son of former Test cricketer Geoff Marsh.

Junior career[link]

After representing Western Australia at Under 17 and Under 19 level, Marsh represented Australia at both the 1999–2000 and 2001–02 ICC Under-19 World Cups. In the 1999–2000 tournament, held in Sri Lanka, he was the second highest run scorer for Australia behind Shane Watson, and other notable teammates included played alongside Michael Clarke, Nathan Hauritz and Mitchell Johnson. At the 2001–02 tournament in New Zealand, which Australia won, he scored the fourth most runs for the tournament, with the captain of the Australian side, Cameron White being the leading run scorer.

During this time, Marsh made his first-class cricket debut in 2000–01, against South Australia at the WACA Ground in March 2001. He played as a middle order batsman, and played this final three games of the season, before continuing to represent both the Australian Under 19 side and the Australian Cricket Academy throughout 2001 in the lead-up to the World Cup in New Zealand in January to February 2002.

Central Lancashire League[link]

Marsh was signed by Walsden Cricket Club for the 2004 season after they received many recommendations from former professionals about the "next best thing to come out of Australia since Steve Waugh. The recommendations turned out to be correct as Marsh had a prolific season with the bat. Marsh scored 1139 runs at an average of 56.95 and was also used as a bowler during his time at Walsden taking 46 wickets at an average of 17.76. Marsh was also an integral part of Walsden's Wood Cup winning team during this season.

Marsh follows in a long line of professionals to represent their country, two of which were Trevor Chappell and Andrew Bichel.

Domestic career[link]

In October 2002, Marsh was named to play for Western Australia against the touring English XI in a two day practice match (not classified as first-class) prior to the 2002–03 Ashes. Marsh top scored for the match with 92 runs against an English bowling attack consisting of Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison, Andy Caddick and Ashley Giles. He was not selected for the three-day match held soon after, but was selected to make his List A debut for the Warriors in an ING Cup match against South Australian Redbacks in November 2002. Marsh would play in nine ING Cup games and three Pura Cup during the 2002–03 season and he made his maiden first-class hundred against a NSW side featuring Steve and Mark Waugh in 2003.

Over the next few years, he cemented his position in the Warriors middle order, averaging over 35 in first class cricket in 2004–05 and 2005–06. He was named in the Australia-A side for a mid-year tournament in Cairns in July 2006. After a relatively poor 2006–07 season, he returned to top form in 2007–08 in all forms of the game. In first-class cricket, he made his highest career score of 166 not out (as part of a 268 run 4th-wicket partnership with Luke Pomersbach and averaged over 60 runs per completed innings. In the 2007–08 Ford Ranger Cup 50-over competition, Marsh made his debut century and was the Warriors' top run scorer. In Twenty20 cricket, he was the competition's leading run scorer with the highest average and the highest individual score.

Partway through the 2007–08 season, with the retirement of Justin Langer and the move of Chris Rogers to the Victorian Bushrangers, Marsh switched batting positions to become an opening batsman like his father Geoff. At the end of the season, he was named the Lawrie Sawle Medallist for being the best player in the Western Australian state cricket team for the 2007–08 season. He was highly sought after for the Big Bash League due to being regarded as one of the top domestic Twenty20 players in the world. He ultimately chose to stay in WA and play for the Perth Scorchers. After missing the first game due to a troublesome back, which played up in the recent Australian tour of South Africa, he played in the second match against the Melbourne Renegades and made 99* stating his case to join the test team for the Boxing Day Test against India and missed the next few games.

Indian Premier League career [link]

Good form with the Western Warriors was rewarded with a contract in the 2008 Indian Premier League, where he opened the batting for the Kings XI Punjab. Despite missing the opening four games of the tournament, Marsh scored the most runs in the league stage of tournament, including a century in the final league stage match against the Rajasthan Royals. He received the orange cap for scoring most runs in the 2008 IPL tournament. Shaun Marsh was chosen in the inaugural IPL dream team chosen by the cricketing website Cricinfo along with cricket superstars Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as well as other young talents like Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan.

International career[link]

His excellent form during the 2007–08 season lead to Marsh being given a Cricket Australia Contract and being called up to the Australian Cricket tour of the West Indies.

He made his debut for Australia in June 2008 in a Twenty20 game against the West Indies alongside fellow West Australian debutant, Luke Ronchi. Opening the batting with Ronchi, they compiled an opening partnership of 57 runs from the first 6 overs, with Marsh being dismissed soon after for 29 runs from 22 balls, including 2 sixes and a four. He made a memorable One Day International debut a few days later, top scoring for the match with 81 runs from 97 balls and winning the man of the match award. With the recent retirements of two of Australia's longest-serving ODI opening batsmen in Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, Marsh has been able to claim one of the opening batsmen positions for the 2008–09 season. In the South African tour of Australia, Marsh performed well in the opening two ODI matches, top-scoring in both matches and winning the man of the match award in the second game. He has scored more than 50 in five of his 10 matches, and scored his first century in the 5th ODI against India at Hyderabad on 5 November 2009.

Marsh was included in the Test cricket squad for Australia's tour of India in 2008, but was not selected for a match.

On 21 January 2011, in an ODI match against England at Hobart, Marsh scored his second ODI century (110) in a record ninth wicket partnership with Doug Bollinger. Australia went on to win the match by 46 runs, and Marsh was named player of the match.

In July 2011, Marsh was selected for the Australian Test Squad for the tour to Sri Lanka. Marsh made his Test cricket debut against Sri Lanka on 8 September 2011, when he became the 19th Australian to score a century on debut by scoring 141, where he shared a 258-run 4th wicket partnership with Michael Hussey (142). He played one Test in Australia's following tour of South Africa, before missing three Tests with a back injury. He played all four Tests in Australia's 2011-12 home series against India, but performed poorly, scoring only 17 runs at an average of 2.67, including three ducks; after continuing to show poor form at domestic level afterwards, he was dropped from the Test team for Australia's next series.

Personal life[link]

Marsh was suspended for two matches by the WACA in November 2007 for breaking the team rules by drinking alcohol to excess with Luke Pomersbach.

Shaun's younger brother Mitchell, is also predicted to follow in his brother and father's footsteps and has been rookie contracted to the Western Warriors for the 2008–09 season. At the age of 16 he had already represented Western Australia at both Under-17 and Under-19 level and also broke the record for most runs in the Perth schools competition, the Darlot Cup, where he scored 739 runs at an average of 105.57.

External links [link]

Cricket Archive Profile of Shaun Marsh

CricInfo Profile of Shaun Marsh

References[link]

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Australian cricketers Category:Australia One Day International cricketers Category:Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Western Australia cricketers Category:People educated at Wesley College, Perth Category:People from Narrogin, Western Australia Category:Australia Test cricketers Category:Cricketers who made a century on Test debut

mr:शॉन मार्श pnb:شون مارش pl:Shaun Marsh simple:Shaun Marsh fi:Shaun Marsh

playername	Rahul Dravid
country	India
fullname	Rahul Sharad Dravid
active year	1996-2012
living	yes
nickname	The Wall, Jammy, Mr. Dependable
dayofbirth	11
monthofbirth	1
yearofbirth	1973
placeofbirth	Indore, Madhya Pradesh
countryofbirth	India
heightft	5
heightinch	11
heightm	1.7
batting	Right-handed
bowling	Right arm off spin
role	Batsman, Wicketkeeper
international	true
testdebutdate	20 June
testdebutyear	1996
testdebutagainst	England
testcap	207
lasttestdate	24 January
lasttestyear	2012
lasttestagainst	Australia
odidebutdate	3 April
odidebutyear	1996
odidebutagainst	Sri Lanka
odicap	339
lastodidate	16 September
lastodiyear	2011
lastodiagainst	England
odishirt	19
onet20i	true
t20idebutdate	31 August
t20idebutyear	2011
t20idebutagainst	England
international career	1996 - 2012
club1	Karnataka
year1	1990–present
club2	Kent
year2	2000
club3	Scotland
year3	2003
club4	Royal Challengers Bangalore
year4	2008–2010
club5	Rajasthan Royals
year5	2011–present
columns	4
column1	Test
matches1	164
runs1	13,288
bat avg1	52.31
100s/50s1	36/63
top score1	270
deliveries1	120
wickets1	1
bowl avg1	39.00
fivefor1	0
tenfor1	0
best bowling1	1/18
catches/stumpings1	210/0
column2	ODI
matches2	344
runs2	10,889
bat avg2	39.16
100s/50s2	12/83
top score2	153
deliveries2	186
wickets2	4
bowl avg2	42.50
fivefor2	0
tenfor2	0
best bowling2	2/43
catches/stumpings2	196/14
column3	FC
matches3	298
runs3	23,794
bat avg3	55.33
100s/50s3	68/117
top score3	270
deliveries3	617
wickets3	5
bowl avg3	54.60
fivefor3	0
tenfor3	0
best bowling3	2/16
catches/stumpings3	353/1
column4	LA
matches4	449
runs4	15,271
bat avg4	42.30
100s/50s4	21/112
top score4	153
deliveries4	477
wickets4	4
bowl avg4	105.25
fivefor4	0
tenfor4	0
best bowling4	2/43
catches/stumpings4	233/17
date	30 January
year	2012
source	http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/28114.html Cricinfo }}

Rahul Sharad Dravid (born 11 January 1973) is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test and One Day International teams. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2000. Dravid was also awarded the ICC Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year at the inaugural awards ceremony held in 2004. Dravid also holds the record of having taken the most number of catches in Test matches. On 9 March 2012, he announced his retirement from international cricket.

On 7 August 2011 after getting a surprise call to play in ODI series against England he declared his retirement from One Day Internationals and T20.

Popularly hailed as "The Wall of Indian cricket", Dravid is regarded by many to be one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game. Dravid holds multiple cricketing records. He is only the second player, after Sachin Tendulkar, to reach 13,000 runs in Test cricket. On 14 February 2007, he became the sixth player overall and the third Indian (after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly), to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket in cricketing history. He is the first and only batsman to score a century in all ten Test playing nations. With more than 200 catches, Dravid currently holds the world record for the most number of catches in Test cricket. Dravid has also been involved in more than 80 century partnerships with 18 different partners and has been involved in 19 century partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar – a world record.

On 24 November 2011, He became the second international player to reach 13,000 runs in Test Cricket only after Sachin Tendulkar.

On 14 December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra.

Dravid has been bowled 55 times in Test cricket, going past Allan Border's previous record of 53.

On 9 March 2012, Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international and first class cricket. Dravid made the announcement with the BCCI president, N Srinivasan and former captain Anil Kumble at a press conference in Bangalore. He is however slated to appear in the 2012 edition of the Indian Premier League as captain of the Rajasthan Royals

Early life and family[link]

Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He belongs to a Maharashtrian family settled in Bangalore, Karnataka. He has a younger brother, Vijay. Dravid's father worked for Kissan, a company known for producing jams and preserves and thus he earned the nickname ''Jammy'' from his teammates at St. Joseph's Boys' High School. His mother, Pushpa, was a professor of architecture at Bangalore University. Rahul Dravid has a degree in commerce from St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore.

Dravid started playing cricket at the age of 12, and represented the state at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 level. Rahul's talents were first spotted by former cricketer Keki Tarapore who was coaching at a summer coaching camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. He went on to score a century on debut for his school team. Along with the batting, he was keeping wickets. However, he later stopped keeping wickets on advice from former Test players Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and Tarapore.

He was selected to make his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991 against Maharashtra in Pune (while still attending college at St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore), alongside future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, scoring 82 in a drawn match after batting in the No. 7 position. His first full season was in 1991–92, when he scored two centuries to finish with 380 runs at an average of 63.3, and was selected for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

On 4 May 2003, he married Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur. They have two children, Samit (born 2005) and Anvay (born 2009).

Cricketing career [link]

1995–98: Beginning[link]

Dravid had a disappointing start to his career making his debut in one-dayers against Sri Lankan cricket team in the Singer Cup in Singapore immediately after World Cup in March 1996, replacing Vinod Kambli. Subsequently, he was dropped from the team, until he was picked again for the tour of England.

He then made his debut in the Second Test against England along with Sourav Ganguly,when Sanjay Manjrekar got injured after the first Test match on that tour.

Dravid scored 95 and held his position on Manjrekar's return for the Third Test, scoring 84. After moderate performance in home series against Australia and South Africa, Dravid broke through on the 1996–97 tour of South Africa. He batted at No. 3 in the third Test in Johannesburg, scoring his maiden century with 148 and 81, the top score in each innings to claim his first man of the match award. He made his first half-century against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in 1996, scoring 90 in his 10th ODI.

In the 18 months ending in mid-1998, he played in an away series against the West Indies, home and away series against Sri Lanka and a home series against Australia, he scored consistently, with 964 runs at an average of 56.7. He scored eleven half-centuries but was unable to convert them to triple figures . He scored his second century in late 1998 against Zimbabwe in a one-off Test match, top-scoring in both innings with 148 and 44, but was unable to prevent an Indian defeat . He became the third Indian batsman after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar to score centuries in both innings of a match during the 1999 New Year's Test match against New Zealand with 190 and 103* to force a draw. He had a moderate season in the subcontinent in early 1999, scoring 269 runs at an average of 38.42 with one century before scoring 239 at an average of 39.8 including a century against New Zealand in late 1999. This was followed by a poor away series against Australia and another poor home series against South Africa, accumulating just 187 runs at an average of 18.7. He then scored 200*, his first double century, against Zimbabwe in Delhi, which along with 70* in the second innings helped India to victory. It was the first time he had passed 50 in 12 months and he followed this with a 162 in the following Test, giving him 432 runs in the two match series at an average of 432 .

1999: World Cup success [link]

Dravid was top scorer in the 7th World Cup (1999), scoring 461 runs. He is the only Indian to score two back to back centuries at the World Cup. He scored 110 vs Kenya and followed it with a masterly 145 against Sri Lanka in Taunton, in a match where he kept wickets. He was vice captain during 2003 World cup where India reached the final, serving his team in the dual capacity of a batsman and wicket keeper to accommodate an additional batsman, a move that paid huge dividends for India. Dravid was the captain during the 2007 cricket world cup in West Indies, where Indian cricket team had a dismal campaign.

Post 2000 [link]

In the second test of a three match test series against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, Dravid joined hands with VVS Laxman to produce one of the greatest comeback victories in the history of the game. Following on, the pair put on 376 runs for the fifth wicket in the second innings of the match. Dravid scored 180 while Laxman made 281. Though Dravid ended up second-best, it remains one of his greatest performances till date. Later that year in Port Elizabeth against South Africa, he made a crucial match-saving 87 runs in the second innings to deny South Africa the win.

2002 was the year, when Dravid started to emerge out of Tendulkar's shadow and established himself as India's premier Test batsman. In the month of April, at Georgetown, West Indies in first test match of the series, he scored an unbeaten 144 in the first innings after being hit by a Mervyn Dillon delivery. Later that year, he raked up four consecutive centuries against England (3) and West Indies (1). In August 2002, against England at Headingley Stadium, Leeds in the third test match of the series, he scored a 148 in the first innings on a seamer-friendly pitch to set up a famous Indian win. He won the man of the match award for this performance. Dravid's astonishing aggregate of 602 runs in the four match test series against England also fetched him the man of the series award.

In 2003–2004 season, Dravid scored three double centuries, one each against New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan. Against Australia at Adelaide in second match of the four match series, the batting pair of Dravid and VVS Laxman proved to be Australia's nemesis again. In the first innings, India were looking down the barrel at 4 wickets down for 85 runs in reply to Australia's massive 556 when the duo joined hands. By the time their partnership was broken, the pair had put on 303 runs. Laxman was dismissed for 148 while Dravid went on make 233. At that time, this was the highest individual score by an Indian batsman overseas. By the time Dravid was done, India was only 33 short of Australia's first innings score. Dravid followed this with an unbeaten 72 under immense pressure in the second innings to set up a famous victory. Dravid scored 619 runs in that four-match series against Australia at an average of 103.16 and won the man of the series award. During the later part of the season, Dravid, in Ganguly's absence, led India to its first test victory over Pakistan in Pakistan in the first test match at Multan. In the third and the final match of the series At Rawalpindi, Dravid stroked a masterly 270 to take India to a historic test series win over Pakistan. Dravid was the India's lifesaver in the disastrous tour of England in 2011, which costed India the top rankings in test cricket which they lost 4-0. However, only Dravid stood up and hit up 3 watchful centuries as India tumbled.

Retirement[link]

Rahul Dravid had been dropped from the ODI team in 2009 until he was included in the team in 2011 for a ODI series in England. The decision surprised many, including Dravid himself. Though Dravid had not officially retired from ODI cricket, he accepted that he dint expect to be recalled. After being selected, Dravid announced that the series would be his last ODI appearance. Rahul Dravid played his last ODI innings against England at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Friday, 16 September 2011. He scored a crucial 69 runs from 79 balls before eventually being bowled by Graeme Swann. He had the distinction of playing his last limited overs international match on his debut match in a T20I. He announced his retirement before playing his first T20I match.

After the tour of Australia in 2011-12, Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from test and domestic cricket on 9 March 2012, although he will be leading Rajasthan Royals in the 2012 Indian Premier League. Dravid was the second highest run scorer and player with the highest number of catches in test cricket at the time of his retirement.

Playing style [link]

With a strong technique, he has been the backbone for the Indian cricket team. Beginning with the reputation of being a defensive batsman who should be confined to Test cricket, he was dropped from ODIs as he was slow in making runs. However, in a period of his career he began consistently scoring runs in ODIs as well, earning him the award of ICC player of the year. His nickname of 'The Wall' in Reebok advertisements has now become a tribute to his consistency. Dravid has scored 36 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 53.19, including 5 double centuries. In one-dayers too he has an impressive average of 39.49, although at a strike rate of 71.22. He is one of the few Indians who average more at away Test matches than at home, averaging about 5 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches. As of 23 September 2010, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 55.53 as against his home Test average of 50.76, and his average for away ODI stands at 37.93 as against home ODI average of 43.11. In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 66.34 in Tests and 50.69 in ODIs.

Dravid's sole Test wicket was that of Ridley Jacobs in the fourth Test against the West Indies during the 2001–2002 series. While he has no pretensions to being a bowler, Dravid often kept wicket for India in ODIs. He has since delegated the wicket-keeping gloves, first to Parthiv Patel and more recently to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dravid is now purely a batsman, one who has averaged 63.51 in matches played since 1 January 2000.

Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record. He also holds the record for the greatest number of innings since debut before being dismissed for a duck. His highest scores in ODIs and Tests are 153 and 270 respectively. Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).

Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage(%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds – three of them double-centuries – and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored.

He was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year 2000. Though primarily a defensive batsman,Dravid has scored 50 not out in 22 balls(Strike Rate-227.27)vs NewZealand in Hydrabad on 15 Nov 2003,second fastest 50 among Indians.Only Ajit Agarkar 67 of 21 balls is faster than Dravid.

In 2004, Dravid was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. On 7 September 2004, he was awarded the inaugural Player of the year award and the Test player of the year by the International Cricket Council, ICC (associated image below). On 18 March 2006, Dravid played his 100th Test against England in Mumbai.

In 2006, it was announced that he would remain captain of the Indian team up to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

After the England Series however, he stepped down as captain of India due to personal reasons. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over as ODI captain. Anil Kumble replaced him in test matches.

In 2007, he was dropped from the Indian ODI Squad following poor series against Australia. Dravid went back to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 218 against Mumbai.

In 2008, he made 93 in the first innings of the Perth test, the highest score of the match, to help India win and make the series 1–2. However, he was ignored by selectors for the subsequent one-day tri-series.

After a barren run in Test matches in 2008, Dravid came under increasing media pressure to retire or be dropped. In the Second Test against England in Mohali, he scored 136, putting on a triple-century stand with Gautam Gambhir.

After reaching 10,000 test runs milestone, he was quoted saying, "It's a proud moment for sure. For me, growing up, I dreamt of playing for India. When I look back, I probably exceeded my expectations with what I have done over the last 10 to 12 years. I never had an ambition to do it because I never believed – it is just a reflection of my longevity in the game."

Dravid is also one of the two batsmen to score 10,000 runs at a single batting position and is now the second highest run getter in Test Cricket next to Sachin Tendulkar.

Praises and Accolades[link]

In 1999,Glenn McGrath is believed to have been said if there was one Indian player who would get an automatic entry into an Australian team filled with stars, it would be Rahul Dravid.

Facts[link]

Rahul Dravid is the first batsmen who has registered a score of century in all test playing nations.

He has played 93 consecutive five day test matches for India

The first player to score 10000-run at No.3 position

Rahul Dravid has a record of most number of catches in Test Cricket. His highest knock of 270 runs is the longest innings played by an Indian batsmen in terms of minutes.

He holds a record for not being dismissed on a duck for 120 innings consecutive one-day matches.

He is only the second non-English cricketer to have hit 3 or more centuries in a two different test series in England, the other being Donald Bradman.

Teams[link]

International[link]

India

ACC Asian XI

ICC World XI

MCC

Indian first-class[link]

Karnataka

South Zone

Indian Premier League[link]

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Rajasthan Royals

English county[link]

Kent

Scotland

Controversies[link]

Ball-tampering incident[link]

In January 2004 Dravid was found guilty of ball tampering during an ODI with Zimbabwe. Match referee Clive Lloyd adjudged the application of an energy sweet to the ball as a deliberate offence although Dravid himself denied this was his intent. Lloyd emphasised that television footage caught Dravid putting a lozenge on the ball during the Zimbabwean innings on Tuesday night at the Gabba. According to the ICC's Code of Conduct, players are not allowed to apply substances to the ball other than sweat and saliva. Dravid was fined half of his earnings from the match.

Indian coach John Wright came out in defence of Dravid, stating that "It was an innocent mistake". Wright argued that Dravid had been trying to apply saliva to the ball when parts of a losenge he had been chewing stuck to the ball; Dravid then tried to wipe it off. ICC regulations prevented Dravid from commenting about the issue, but former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly also stated that Dravid's act was "just an accident".

Multan declaration[link]

One of Dravid's most debated decisions was taken in March 2004, when he was standing in as captain for an injured Sourav Ganguly. The Indian first innings was declared at a point when Sachin Tendulkar was at 194 with 16 overs remaining on Day 2. Rahul Dravid has had a mixed record when leading India in Tests. India lost the Karachi Test in 2006, giving Pakistan the series 1–0. In March 2006, India lost the Mumbai Test, giving England its first Test victory in India since 1985, enabling Flintoff's men to draw the series 1–1. While the loss in Karachi could be put down to several Indian batsmen playing badly, the defeat in Mumbai was arguably the result of Dravid's decision to bowl first on a flat dry pitch which later deteriorated and ended with an Indian collapse in the run chase. Coincidentally, it was Dravid's 100th test match in which the Indians were all out for 100 runs in the second innings. He was criticised by Vijay Mallya for not picking the team with right balance after the Bangalore Royal Challengers finished seventh out of the eight teams that played in the 2008 Indian Premier League. After India failed to qualify for the Finals of the DLF Cup, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was criticised by former all-rounder Ravi Shastri who said that he was not assertive enough and let Greg Chappell make too many decisions. When asked for a response, Dravid said that Shastri, while a 'fair critic', was 'not privy' to the internal decision-making process of the team.

Captaincy Record[link]

Test Matches (Against Other Nations) [link]

2 2007-2007 2006–2007 2003-2003 2004–2006 2006–2007 2005-2005 2006-2006 2003-2007

Opposition !! Span !! Matches !! Won !! Lost !! Tied !! Draw
	2004-2004	|	1	1	0	0
	|	2	1	0	0	1
	|	6	2	1	0	3
	|	1	0	0	0	1
	|	5	1	2	0	2
	|	3	1	2	0	0
	|	2	1	0	0	1
	|	4	1	0	0	3
Total	|	25	8	6	0	11

Opposition !! Matches !! Won !! Lost !! Tied !! NR 6 1 | 4 0 1 3 | 2 1 0 0 1 | 1 0 0 0 13 | 9 4 0 0 2 | 0 1 0 1 9 | 5 4 0 0 1 | 1 0 0 0 9 | 4 5 0 0 16 | 8 6 0 2 16 | 8 8 0 0 3 | 3 0 0 0 Total 79 | 42 33 0 4

Biographies[link]

Rahul Dravid has 2 biographies written on his career: Rahul Dravid – A Biography written by Vedam Jaishankar (ISBN 978-81-7476-481-2). Publisher: UBSPD Publications. Date: January 2004 The Nice Guy Who Finished First written by Devendra Prabhudesai. Publisher: Rupa Publications. Date: November 2005

Other work[link]

Commercial endorsements[link]

Reebok: 1996 – ''present'' Pepsi: 1997 ''present'' Kissan: ''Unknown'' Castrol: 2001 – ''present'' Hutch: 2003 Karnataka Tourism: 2004 Max Life: 2005 – ''present'' Bank of Baroda: 2005 – ''present'' Citizen: 2006 – ''present'' Skyline Construction: 2006 – ''present'' Sansui: 2007 Gillette: 2007 – ''present'' Samsung: 2002 – 2004

Social commitments[link]

Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) UNICEF Supporter and AIDS Awareness Campaign

See also[link]

List of international cricket centuries by Rahul Dravid

List of awards and achievements of Rahul Dravid

Indian national cricket captains

References[link]

External links[link]

CricketFundas Interview with Rahul Dravid

HindustanTimes.com Player Profile

HowSTAT! statistical profile on Rahul Dravid

PwC Batsman Rankings

Rahul Dravid-ToI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Dravid

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/28114.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/556769.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/556793.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/556782.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556771.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556792.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556766.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/556786.html

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