Jimmy Maher Career, Profile, Stats, Info and Much More

  

Full Name: James Patrick Maher

Born: 27 February 1974 Innisfail Queensland,

Nickname – Mahbo

National Side: - 1998-2003 Australia

ODI Shirt No: - 46

Height – 6ft (182cm)

Batting – Left-Handed batsman

Bowling – Right-handed Medium Fast

ODI Debut – 14 Jan 1998 vs New Zealand

Last ODI – 9 November 2003 vs New Zealand

Queensland Pura Cup Captain: - 2002/03 and 2007/08

Former Australian cricketer Jimmy Maher is born on 27 February 1974 in Queensland. An attractive left-hander with a thumbing cover-drive, Jimmy Maher played two one-dayers for Australia in 1997-98.

After having played a couple of ODIs, it seemed like Maher's international career was done. However, relentless consistency in the domestic circuit saw him make a return in 2002. It was due to a sensational Pura Cup season in 2001-02, where he became the first ever batsman to aggregate over 1000 runs in a season, that Maher was able to storm his way back into the national side.

Apart from being a gifted left-handed batsman who oozed class in his strokeplay, he was a utility medium pacer and could also keep wickets when needed. Like most left-handers, Maher's signature stroke was the cover drive which he unfurled with absolute class.

Maher's bubbly personality made him a popular member of dressing rooms from the Gabba to the Gower. He took a while to get the hang of English pitches, but magnificent footwork and remarkable shot-selection won through in the end.

In the 2001/02 season, he continued that form back in Australia, slamming 174 against Victoria and 209 against South Australia on his way to becoming the first batsman to reach 1000 Pura Cup runs.

It was in the same year that Australia was determined to start the process of transition and had dropped the Waugh brothers from the ODI squad. Ricky Ponting was appointed captain and there were a plethora of changes in the squad.

As the selectors looked for youth, they also wanted experience, even if it was at the domestic circuit alone and that's where Maher came in. The tour to South Africa was his comeback series and although he played a couple of impact knocks, the consistency never really came. 

Jimmy Maher back into the one-day reckoning, when he announced his return with 95 in the second match against South Africa at Centurion in 2002 and followed that up with a vital 43 not out to secure a tie at Potchefstroom.

A series of handy one-day performances won him a place as the spare batsman (and the stand-in wicketkeeper) in the 2003 World Cup-winning squad, although he appeared in only two matches. Therefore, the tours to West Indies and India followed but his 26-match one-day journey ended when Brad Haddin assumed the backup gloveman’s role. 

Replacing Stuart Law as Queensland's captain, Jimmy Maher lost five domestic finals in a row before sealing his first win as a leader with the 2005-06 Pura Cup. He marked the occasion with a career-high 223 and then let his batsmen race to an unstoppable 6 declared for 900, dedicating the victory to victims of a fierce cyclone in north Queensland the previous week. Maher's Man-of-the-Match performance guided him to a personal haul of 906 runs at 53.29 in the competition and showed that at the age of 32 he had plenty of energy left. 

The run-scoring leader in the interstate one-day tournament, Maher's stand-out limited-overs moment came with a national-record 187 from 129 deliveries against Western Australia in 2003-04 as the Bulls charged to an unmatched 405 in 50 overs.

In February 2007, he also values highly his 108 runs in 133 balls in the limited-overs final of 2006-07, which set up Queensland's victory in the Ford Rangers Cup Final against the Victorian Bushrangers at the MCG. The Queensland Bulls went on to win the match by 21 runs. It was the third time that he had scored a century for Queensland in an Ondday domestic final.

On 11 February 2007 Maher was criticized by South Australian cricket captain Darren Lehmann for not declaring to make a game of their Pura Cup match at the Gabba. Lehmann said he thought he was playing Tasmania referring to Tasmania's reliance on the final day run chases.

Jimmy Maher caused controversy in 1995 following Queensland's Sheffield Shield win over South Australia, when he said during a television interview "I'm as full as a coon's Valiant". Indigenous Australians criticized Maher for his statement and its racial undertone. Maher later publicly apologized for the statement.

A year later, following a subdued season, he stood down with 9,933 first-class runs for the Bulls, second behind Martin Love, and headed for the Indian Cricket League.