Wisden overview
Every turn in Michael Bevan's career has been a contradiction. He found batting simple to the point of boring in making a debut first-class century while still an academy student, was nominated to succeed Allan Border in Australia's middle order, yet twice was bounced out of Test cricket by unprepossessing England. His mark in Tests remains a matchwinning 11-wicket bag while bowling his mercurial left-arm wrist-spinners at West Indies at Adelaide in 1996-97. Instead, he has become the world's best one-day batsman, with a game built around a sublime instinct for gaps, Olympian speed between the wickets and a survival instinct so well honed that he collects a not-out every third innings. He is sure in the field, but less dynamic since a shoulder injury. He has also scored prolifically for NSW, Yorkshire and Sussex. Greg Baum

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd