Australia have always been a dominant force in Test cricket. The likes of Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Ricky Ponting, etc. have taken their team to greater heights and have dominated world cricket.
However, there have been some captains from the opposition who have achieved decent success against Australia in the longest format of the game. Forming competitive teams, these skippers have been able to be victorious over Australia and have been able to lead by example. Here are four such Test captains with most Test wins against Australia.
1. Clive Lloyd – 12
West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd was responsible for their domination of world cricket in the 70s and 80s. Having dominated all the teams around the world, West Indies would always save their best against Australia.
Clive Lloyd has the most Test wins against Australia as captain, with 12 to his name. In these 12 Tests, he has not only been a great leader but also has led the way with the bat. He has scored 940 runs at a brilliant average of 67.14 with three centuries. He also has five fifties to his name. These stats show the kind of damage he has done as a batsman and why West Indies dominated Australia in their early cricketing days.
2. Mike Brearley – 11
Mike Brearly was England’s captain for a period of four years where they absolutely dominated Australia. With 11 Test wins as captain against Australia which is the second-highest for any captain, Brearley was brilliant for England as a skipper.
Brearly scored 419 runs in those 11 Tests at an average of just 20.95. Although these are modest numbers, he was very effective as a skipper. It was one of the golden periods of England’s domination over Australia.
3. MS Dhoni – 8
Arguably India’s finest captains, MS Dhoni has had a decent amount of success against Australia. Beginning his Test career as a skipper against the Aussies, MS Dhoni instantly showed that he belonged to the longest format as a skipper and dominated the Aussies in a 2-0 win at home in 2008.
In 2010, Dhoni led India to another 2-0 series win at home against Australia. Having faced a 4-0 demolition Down Under in 2011-2012, Dhoni was determined to help India dominate Australia the next time they faced them and was ready to give them a taste of their own medicine.
In the 2012-13 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India thrashed Australia 4-0 at home and MS Dhoni laid the foundation of that emphatic series win with a fantastic double hundred in the first innings of the first Test at Chennai. He led the Indian team brilliantly against Australia and completed 8 wins against them, which is the third-most for any captain against Australia. He scored 643 runs in these 8 tests at a brilliant average of 64.3.
MS Dhoni also played his last Test against Australia in early 2015 at Melbourne and then handed the reins of India’s Test captaincy to Virat Kohli.
4. WG Grace – 8
Another England skipper who had a relatively successful stint against Australia was WG Grace. Form 1888-1896, he won 8 Tests against Australia, which is the joint-third most by any captain against Australia.
In these Tests, Grace has scored 362 runs at an average of 32.9 with the highest score of 75*. Although these numbers do not show a lot of weight, they do not do justice to how successful he was against Australia as a leader.
