As far as 50 over one day matches are concerned my favorite is Michael Bevan. Yea he wasnt as explosive and didnt always make the front pages - but when he came he sticked around for a long - long time and always maintained an exceptional strike/run rate.
I liked his simple philosophy. Excluding exceptional cases there are 3 ways you can get out 1) bowled 2) caught 3) run. There is not much you can do about 1. However, if you dont hit the ball in the air as often and beat a horse running between wickets you pretty much eliminate 2 and 3.
I dont know if any team has ever had such a strong batsman come in at 5th-6th down.