Highs and Lows of Michael Slater's career
Michael Slater first came to the international scene in June 1993. He played his first Test against England at Manchester. Slater at the beginning of his career itself wroked his way into the position of an opener. He played a knock of 58 in the first innings and 27 in the second as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 won his debut Test by 179 runs.
Slater made his debut in the one-day international circuit against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 at Melbourne in December 1993. His ODI career got off to a much more authoritative start as he played a brilliant innings of 73, which ended up being his highest one-day score ever.
He was the only batsman in the Australian line-up who had an answer to the Proteas bowlers and was solely responsible for driving up the Australian total to 189. But all this effort also could not save Australia on the day as the South African batsmen easily achieved the set target and won the match by seven wickets.
A notable career
Slater’s career spanned over a period of eight years. During this time he played in 74 Tests and 42 ODIs. He had an average of 42 in Tests with a highest of 219. He also scored 14 hundreds and 21 fifties in Test matches. In one-day internationals, he scored a total of 987 runs at an average of 24 and a highest of 73. He managed to amass nine fifties in all during his one-day international career
Slater played his last one-day international against England at The Oval in May 1997. Like his first ODI the last one also ended in a defeat as England won the match by six wickets. Slater came four down and could not do much for the team as he scored just a single run in his last one-day innings.
His last international match was the fourth Test against England at Leeds in August 2001. He was dropped from the Australian side before the fifth and last Ashes Test.
2001 sees downfall begin
Year 2001 was a very difficult one for Slater in many ways. He was going through a tough divorce and his performance on the field was bearing the brunt of it. Slater later went on to blame the then-captain Steve Waugh for the end of his international career. He wrote in his autobiography that he was called into the dressing room before the start of the final Ashes Test and was told that he was being left out of the side. No explanation was given for his removal.
It was later revealed by Waugh himself that the problems in his marriage were the real reason that he was left out of the side. He had earlier been involved in a controversy with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Test match of 2001 when he swore at the batsman as a catch was denied.
2003 turned out to be even more difficult for Slater as he battled with a mysterious injury. Because of his condition, Slater could not walk without the help of assistance. At this point in time he was still harbouring hopes of a comeback to the Australian squad. His condition improved but he continued to have troubles and playing cricket was no longer an easy task for him.
Finally in June 2004 after having gone through several tough years, Slater announced his retirement from cricket. In his farewell statement he said, “The decision has been a painful one. It's been a very tough one, given that I still have the desire to play and believe I still had a lot to offer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-South-Wales-c823 cricket. But I feel to have signed with the Blues in the hope of being fit for the season would have been irresponsible.”
But retirement from playing didn't keep him away from the game. Commentary was the next step for Slater to continue his association with cricket. He first joined Channel 4 in England in 2005 and then shifted to channel nine in Australia and still works a commentator for them.
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