In 1994, along with Waqar Younis, he bowled out to Sri Lanka for just 71 runs in the 3rd Test match at Kandy. He took 4 for 32 and 1 of 70 to deliver the series wins of 2-0. As that game illustrated, he could be more than a useful batsman.
Monday, August 15, 2022
Saturday, August 13, 2022
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.
Friday, August 05, 2022
Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Saleem Jaffer in 1987 World Cup.
Friday, May 13, 2022
Aamir Sohail Profile - Cricket Career
Muhammad Aamir Sohail is born on 14 September 1966. He is a Pakistani cricket commentator and former cricketer. In a playing career that spanned eighteen years, Sohail played in 195 first-class and 261 List A Limited Overs matches, including 47 Test matches and 156 One Day Internationals for Pakistan. Aamir Sohail was a combative left-hand opener and a predominantly back-foot player whose forte was improvisation. He loved to attack, and almost found it impossible to control his aggression.
Aamir Sohail made his first-class debut in 1983, as a left-handed
opening batsman and occasional left-arm spin bowler. An aggressive batsman,
Sohail first appeared for the national team in 1990 one-day international
against Sri Lanka and enjoyed a successful international career. He was an
important member of the team that won the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia
and New Zealand.
Aamir Sohail captained Pakistan in six Tests in 1998, becoming the
first Pakistani captain to defeat South Africa in a Test Match. He led Pakistan
through 22 One Day Internationals from 1996 to 1998, winning nine and averaging
41.5 with the bat. He also acted as acting captain of Pakistan against the West
Indies in Sharjah.
Sohail played a big role in Pakistan's World Cup triumph in 1992,
famously telling Ian Botham that he might want to send his mother-in-law into
bat, referring to Botham's statement that he wouldn't send even his
mother-in-law to Pakistan after Botham was controversially given out for zero
in the final.
In the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final in Bangalore against arch-rival
India, Sohail was captaining his side in pursuit of a relatively large target
of 287 in 49 overs. With opening partner Saeed Anwar, he got Pakistan off to a
flying start. With the score at 109 for one and Saeed Anwar (48) back in the
pavilion, Aamir Sohail smashed a delivery from Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad
through the covers for four. Both players exchanged words, and Sohail
unnecessarily pointed his finger aggressively at Prasad. The next delivery
clean-bowled him and triggered a batting collapse which ultimately lost the
game and eliminated Pakistan from the competition.
Aamir Sohail was at the heart of the match-fixing scandal that
rocked cricket in the 1990s: as captain of the national team, his
whistle-blowing may have negatively affected his international career and he
left the international scene early to work in broadcasting, where he might have
tried harder to suppress his personal prejudices.
After retiring from cricket in 2001, Sohail became chief selector
for the national team, his tenure ending in January 2004 when he was replaced
by former national team wicketkeeper Wasim Bari. He continues to work as a
cricket broadcaster. On 4 February 2014, he was again appointed as Chief
Selector of the national team for the second time.
Monday, January 24, 2022
Ian Healy 113 Not Out vs New Zealand at Perth Nov 1993
In 1993-94 seasons, Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Ian scored a brilliant hundred against New Zealand at Perth in Nov 1993. At one stage Australian team was struggling at 6 for 198 when Ian Healy came and played a genuine innings on the bouncy track of Perth. This was Ian Healy's 2nd Test hundred and first against New Zealand. He remains unbeaten at 113 off 181 balls, 262 mins, with the help of 11 fours. Australian innings were ended up 398. The match was drawn, but he realized the Australian selectors to keep faith in his batting. The player in the match was declared Andrew Jones, who scored 143 and 45.
Tuesday, December 07, 2021
Pankaj Singh: Rajasthan’s lone Ranger
It had been a day of mixed fortunes for Pankaj Singh. At the very special moment, perhaps, when the national selectors were discussing his name for the Australia tour, Pankaj was busy battling it out in Jhalawar, trying to secure for Rajasthan their first-ever victory over Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. Pankaj couldn’t save Rajasthan from losing by two runs — but he did get the selectors’ call. It was a reward for his strong domestic performances over the past year and, if it surprised most people, Pankaj himself was confident that the national call was around the corner. In a way he was expecting this call, especially after my five-wicket haul against a side like Mumbai in the first innings at Jnalawar,” an excited Pankaj, Singh, he is just 22, said.
His height — he stands 6’5” in his socks — and broad
shoulders have been his principal assets, along with his work ethic, in
purchasing wickets on the flat, unresponsive Indian pitches for the past two
years. Venkatesh Prasad, the Indian bowling coach, felt the same during the
bowlers’ camp held in Mysore In June, before the England tour, where Pankaj was
called at the last minute based on his performances during the previous Ranji
season. He's a tall and hardworking fast bowler with a good outswinger.
He was Prasad’s assessment at the time. Pankaj, who took the
new ball during the India-A tour to Kenya and then against South Africa at
home, runs in hard and delivers with a side-on action. His stock ball is the
outswinger that leaves the right-hander at a decent pace, something his
colleague Ishant Sharma can make use of in his secret delivery is the disguised
incutter that he utilizes intelligently.
The outswinger came naturally, but my experience during the A
tours this year helped me bring more variety and the inswinger is a work in
progress. His relative youth would raise expectations of greater pace but for
now, Pankaj is happy consistently hitting the 135kmph mark, so as long as he can
pitch it on the right spot. If he can
hit the back-of-the-length and short-of-good-length consistently, that’s the
priority,” Prasad says.
In essence, he is asking Pankaj to do what he has been doing
for Rajasthan for the last two seasons. Pankaj understands that well and is not
fretting over the lack of pace. A good line-and-length is what you want to
focus on and as for pace, he will definitely increase it with time.” KP Bhaskar
said, in his first season as Rajasthan's coach.
Also, his coach believes Pankaj can bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket. “Line and length are his biggest strong points. Also adding that the reason Pankaj is a tall all-out fast bowler is that he has to shoulder the burden of the fast bowling attack almost single-hand. Prasad says India has never been a nation of fast bowlers in any case and it would be beneficial if Pankaj can focus on consistency. With the Ishant Sharma has bagged his maiden five-for, and Zaheer Khan and RP Singh returning to the fold. So, therefore Pankaj Singh will most likely be an understudy to the seniors.
If at all he gets a chance, it will be during the two
practice games ahead of the first Test on Boxing Day at the MCG. Pankaj's
performances appear to have impressed Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of
selectors, who met him for the first time during the 2006-07 Deodhar Trophy.
Since then, Pankaj says, Vengsarkar has encouraged him to believe in himself. Work
on your basics and concentrate on your strengths, he told me.