
One time Australian Test hero Jason Krejza makes our list of Australia's top 50 cricketers.
Photo: Getty Images
CRICKET LOWDOWN: We begin our countdown of the country's 50 best cricketers as Australia's new-look team prepares to take on India in its biggest test yet...
At a dawn of a new era for Australian cricket, when a new batch of selectors is looking to put together the next successful Australian Test team, what better time to rate the best players in the country?
There are sure to be one or two contentious calls, but after some friendly debate in the BigPond Sport offices we've put together our top 50, as of December 2011.
Several quality state cricketers missed out on the list, including Victorian quick Clint McKay, Tasmanian pacemen Luke Butterworth and James Faulkner, one-time Test spinner Michael Beer, New South Wales all-rounder Moises Henriques and impressive 21-year-old Queensland batsman Chris Lynn. Meanwhile one or two former Test players who have been shown the door by the national selectors have polled highly.
Listed below are the players who have just scraped a spot in our list. We'll bring you another batch of 10 players every day this week, with our top 10 to be revealed on Friday.
Who will be number one?
Australia's top 50 cricketers: 50-41
50. Ed Cowan (no-nonsense Tasmania opening batsman)
49. Aaron Finch (hard-hitting Victoria batsman)
48. Josh Hazlewood (20-year-old, 6'5 NSW fast bowler)
47. Travis Birt (big-hitting Western Australia batsman)
46. Michael Klinger (veteran South Australia batsman)
45. Mark Cosgrove (rotund but gifted Tasmania batsman)
44. Chris Rogers (Victoria veteran with 51 first-class hundreds)
43. Jason Krejza (Tasmania off-spinner who took 12 wickets on Test debut)
42. Andrew McDonald (underrated Victoria all-rounder)
41. George Bailey (reliable Tasmania batsman and captain)
Next: Australia's top cricketers - Part 2