Top 5 Australian batsmen with most ODI sixes

One day international cricket is a batsman's game and over the years, it is a format that has been absolutely dominated by batsmen. The rules of the game, the pitches and the fast outfields make it a format that is best suited for attacking batsmanship.

Australia have been one of the most dominant teams in the format for decades and in the first decade of the new millennium, they had one of the most dominant sides in the history of the format.

Naturally, they had some of the most destructive batsmen in their team as well and most of them were outstanding six hitters, who could clear any ground in the world. Here is a look at the 5 Australian batsmen who hit the highest number of sixes in ODI cricket.

#5 Matthew Hayden – 87

He was one of the most destructive opening batsmen in ODI cricket since Matthew Hayden fought his way back into the Australian side in 2001 and for the next 7 years or so, he was busy bullying bowling attacks all over the world.

He had the technique to play against any fast bowler in the world at the top of the order, as he demonstrated in Test cricket and in addition to that, he had the attacking game to completely dominate them.

In addition to that, Hayden's prowess against spin was unparalleled in the Australian team and once he made it into the middle overs, he could hit out at will.

His reach, strength and the ability to clear the boundary made him the 5th most prolific six hitters in the history of Australian ODI batting with a total of 87 sixes in 160 games. When he got going, it was almost a given that Australia would reach a big score.

#4 Andrew Symonds - 103

He is perhaps the greatest number 5 to have ever played ODI cricket and in his pomp, Andrew Symonds' outstanding power hitting was one of the big reasons why the Australian team could dominate the format for almost a decade.

It can be argued that he was the best six-hitter in Australian cricket history since he hit 103 sixes (4th highest) while batting in middle-order and faced the fewest number of deliveries (5504) as opposed to the other batsmen in the list.

The right-hander had the game to take on not only the spin bowlers but also the fast bowlers and there were plenty of times when he completely massacred bowling attacks in the final 15 overs of the game.

On the other hand, he had the technique to bat early on as well, if wickets fell and still play his natural game. He is possibly one of the greatest six hitters ever in ODI cricket.

#3 Shane Watson - 131

It took some time for the all-rounder to cement his place in the Australian batting order but when he did Shane Watson became one of the most important players in the side.

Over the course of a decade or so, he became one of the pillars of the top order for the team and although he wasn't the most technically gifted batsman, he had the game to absolutely destroy bowling attacks when in form.

Smashing the fast bowlers over midwicket or slogging spinners out of the ground came quite easily to Watson and he became particularly effective for Australia as an opener in ODI cricket.

In 190 games, he hit 131 sixes and he faced only 6365 deliveries, which makes his frequency of hitting sixes, the second best in this list. As far as the gift of hitting sixes was concerned, Watson is peerless in Australian ODI cricket history.

#2 Adam Gilchrist - 148

There were very few opening batsmen in ODI cricket who struck so much fear in the minds of the opposition as former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and for more than a decade, he was responsible for getting the team off to flying starts in this format of the game.

The left-hander believed in attacking right from the start and was absolutely merciless on anything pitched even marginally short.

Over the course of his stellar career, he had used the cut and pull to devastating effect against the fastest bowlers in the world and often deposited them into the stands.

In his career that spanned 286 ODIs, he hit 148 sixes and was part of the team that won three consecutive World Cups. Really a once in a generation player.

#1 Ricky Ponting - 159 sixes

He is possibly the greatest Australian batsman since Sir Donald Bradman and went on to become one of the absolute giants of the ODI format during the course of his 17-year career (1995-2012), that spanned 374 games.

Ricky Ponting batted at number 3 for most of his career and although he was not the most frequent hitter of sixes in the team, he was as capable of hitting them as the others in the side. He was more of a boundary hitter and revelled in taking bowling attacks apart on his own.

To put into context, he faced 16944 deliveries in his career and it 159 sixes, which is not as good a rate as the others on the list. However, the length of his career meant that he ended up becoming the prolific six hitters in the Australian ODI team's history.

One of Ponting's biggest six hitting extravaganzas was witnessed in the 2003 World Cup final when he scored 160 not out and smashed 8 sixes to bat India out of the game.