The Australian cricketing legacy is one that stands apart from the rest of the world in terms of records and silverware in their trophy cabinet. At every time period, right from the start of cricket, whether it is Women’s cricket or Men’s cricket, we have always seen an Australian batter dominating the run-scoring charts. We have also seen many young cricketers cruise past milestones early in their careers. Recently, we witnessed the young Australian prodigy, Phoebe Litchfield, entering an elite list of Australian legends who were the youngest players to score 2,000 international runs. In this article, we will be looking at the top 5 Australian cricketers who were the youngest to score 2,000 international runs:
1) Meg Lanning
Meg Lanning, often referred to as “the Megastar”, has achieved a considerable amount for Australia and is arguably one of Australia’s best female cricketers. She reached the 2,000 international runs landmark when she was 21 years and 307 days old. She has scored over 8,000 runs in international cricket and has won multiple ICC titles as captain of the Australian Women’s Cricket team. She was appointed as the captain of the Australian side when she was 21, and she became the youngest ever captain for Australia. She also has the record for the most runs in a series by a captain in One-Day internationals.
2) Phoebe Litchfield
Phoebe Litchfield is a young Australian batter who has impressed the cricketing fraternity with her resilient batting display. She achieved the milestone of 2,000 international runs recently in the series against the Indian Women, and she was only 22 years and 315 days old. She made her debut for Australia in late 2022 but proved her worth with two consecutive half-centuries against Pakistan Women in the ODI series. She has scored 11 half-centuries and 2 centuries in her career so far. She is destined for greatness, and this record could just be the start of something even bigger to come in her cricketing career.
3) Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting was one of the finest players of his generation, and he is only second to Bradman, amongst the greatest batters the country has ever produced. He crossed the 2,000-run mark in international cricket when he was 23 years and 26 days old. He has scored over 27,000 runs in international cricket. Ricky Ponting was a successful captain as he won 48 out of the 77 tests that he had captained, and he had also led Australia to 26 consecutive undefeated 50-over World Cup games. He stepped down from captaincy in the 2011 World Cup, when the dream run had ended.
4) Don Bradman
Don Bradman is considered one of the greatest batters in the game and undoubtedly the greatest in the 20th century. He achieved the milestone of 2,000 international runs when he was 23 years old and 92 days old. He was an unstoppable batting force that troubled the opponents so much that the England cricket team had devised a new system of bowling called “Bodyline”, which was introduced to thwart him, but he still averaged 56 in the series in which they experimented with it. He has scored 6996 runs from 80 innings, and he averaged a stunning 99.94.
5) Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh was one of the finest all-rounders ever to grace the game for Australia. He completed the milestone of 2,000 international runs when he was 23 years and 109 days old. He has scored over 18,000 runs and picked up over 250 wickets in international cricket. He was the captain of the Australian test cricket team that had won the world record 16 consecutive test matches in 1999. He was also a key player for the Australian side that had won the 1999 World Cup, and he, along with Tom Moody, was one of the first players to win the trophy twice.
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