On this day | Nathan Bracken was born in 1977

OTD | Former Australian bowler Nathan Bracken was born in 1977

Former Australian pacer Nathan Bracken turns a year older on Thursday. Despite having a plethora of fast bowling options, the Australians banked on Nathan Bracken. The left-arm pacer had decent pace with the ball and also could outfox the opposition batters with his change of pace.

Nathan Bracken was born on 12th September 1977 in New South Wales. It was in 1998 that Bracken made his first steps into the domestic circuit. By the time he was 23 years old, Nathan Bracken was drafted into the Australian side.

During his career with the Australians spanning 8 years, the left-arm pacer became an integral part of the side. Considered mostly an ODI bowler, Nathan Bracken also had a few chances to play Test cricket and T20I cricket later on.

Nathan Bracken: Unsung hero for Australia

The first time the world got to witness the talents of Nathan Bracken was in the ODI Tri-series at home to West Indies and Zimbabwe. The New South Wales-born pacer made his debut in the game against West Indies at MCG and picked the wicket of Sherwin Campbell. Nathan Bracken ended his day with 9 overs bowled and one wicket taken for 30 runs.

The best year with the ball for Nathan Bracken in the ODI format was in 2006. The left-arm seamer picked 46 wickets from 23 matches which also consisted of a fifer during the famous 438 game in Wanderers.

His best figures in the ODI format game at home in Sydney against Sri Lanka. Nathan Bracken picked 5/47 to help his side win the game by 128 runs. His wickets that day included Upul Tharanga, Kumara Sangakkara, T Dilshan, C Kapugedera, and Muttiah Muralitharan. By the end of his career, Bracken had 174 wickets from 116 matches which is the 8th most wickets in ODI cricket for Australia.

Nathan Bracken played just 5 Test matches for Australia and picked 12 wickets with a best of 4/48. His Debut came against India in Brisbane where he picked three wickets in the game which includes dismissing Virender Sehwag twice and Akash Chopra once. His final Test came against South Africa in Perth where he dismissed Graeme Smith twice in the game as the Test ended in a draw. The left-arm seamer also played 19 T20I games where he picked 19 wickets with a best of 3/11 and had an economy rate of 6.97 runs per over.

Also read: Chris Gayle became the first player to hit a T20I century in 2007