Biography

Made his international cricket debut in an Ashes test at Manchester in 1993.

Retired from international cricket after the Second Test against South Africa in January 2009.

Scored more than a thousand test runs in a single calendar year for five consecutive seasons from 2001-05.

Most successful batsman of the 2007 World Cup with 659 runs.

Formed a highly potent test batting opening pair with Justin Langer. The duo made 5654 runs while batting together, with an average of 51.88 runs per partnership.

Everything this series is being built up to be - I think it's going to live up to those expectations.

One-day cricket is a very important part of our play. We've got a long way to go until the next World Cup and for us it's one ruthless game after another where we can play well.

It's a very special venue and a very special occasion.

Both sides have been playing tremendous cricket over a couple of years and they're both very good units.

It's a fun day, a day which kicks off the start of our tour, it's got great tradition - Australian cricketers just love tradition - and it's been a really pleasant day.