We reveal Queensland cricket’s greatest left handers team - part 1
Two part series: Queensland cricket’s greatest team of left handers - plus we name our best left handed XI currently playing club cricket.
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Today we present part 1 in a two-part series highlighting our greatest left handed cricketers to play for Queensland.
Below we name a more contemporary XI, the best side of left handers since 2000 while also selecting the best left handed XI from players currently playing club cricket.
Then on Wednesday we reveal the best of the best and name our greatest Queensland left handed XI since just after World War II when Ken Mackay started his career.
BEST LEFT HANDERS SINCE 2000
1. Matthew Hayden
Queensland’s greatest born batsman, Hayden made most of his 7913 in the 1990s when he was in and out and mainly out of both the Test and Australia one-day side. But of course the Marist College Ashgrove old boy’s international career ramped up post 1999 and he devoted much of 2000s plundering Test attacks - instead of Shield bowlers.
2. Jim Maher
Like Hayden, Maher made his debut in the early 1990s but he carried his career into the late 2000s (2008) with distinction. The cheeky left hander’s first match for his state was a limited overs game when, batting at No.6, he came in and immediately ran out the Australian captain (Allan Border) - and next ball almost ran out the Australian vice-captain (Ian Healy). Fortunately for Maher, a Nudgee College old boy, things got a lot better from then on and his 9086 runs is second only to Martin Love.
3. Matt Renshaw
Of course Renshaw’s best position is opener but to fit Jim Maher and himself in the same team, we will bat him at No.6. There is a lot to admire about Renshaw - including his patience and determination to make himself a better all-round batsman. A little like Matthew Hayden, Renshaw worked hard at his game to open up scoring opportunities all around the ground and one senses his Test cricket career is not yet over.
4. Usman Khawaja
A batting craftsman who reminds people so much of Mark Waugh - even though he is left handed. His timing, his seemingly effortless stroke play makes him a class above. Watching him bat is a pleasure and it is little wonder he is pushing hard for a Test recall.
5. Lee Carseldine
For someone so fit, it is ironic that injury (back) curtailed Carseldine’s career. A fitness fanatic, the younger generation will know of him only because of his appearances on the television show Australian Survivor - and also for running down thieves who stole from him outside of his house. But Carseldine was an outstanding cricketer. He was a batsman first who developed slick left arm pace that would thump into the gloves of keeper Wade Seccombe. Sadly we never saw the best of Carseldine due to injury, but he would surely have played short form cricket for Australia.
6. Brendan Nash
The St Joseph’s Nudgee College old boy had the distinction of doing something even he thought was never possible when growing up in Brisbane - playing 21 Tests for the West Indies. A popular figure in Queensland cricket, the diminutive Nash turned a solid career with the Bulls in a 21-Test career for the Windies where he averaged 33 and scored two centuries. Mitchell Johnson’s former flat mate, he qualified for the Windies because his father, Paul, was Jamaican.
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7. Chris Hartley
Put simply, there has never been a Queensland sportsman, not just a cricketer, more hardly done by than Hartley. That Matthew Wade played 36 Tests while Hartley stood behind the stumps constructing a 128 game career for the Bulls was an injustice. It never made sense then and it still makes no sense to this day. He was a wonderful wicketkeeper and batsman who dug Queensland out of plenty of holes.
8. Mitchell Johnson
Western Australia rightly acclaim Johnson just as Queensland acclaim the legendary Jeff Thomson who started his career in NSW. But of course Johnson’s formative years were in Queensland and had it not been for love, it was unlikely he would ever have left for the West. Indeed so heart broken was he to leave his home state, that when he announced his decision he walked around the offices of Queensland Cricket apologising. Queensland Cricket was good to Johnson and it was here he was given access to everything he needed to recover from a back injury. It was also where he made his Sheffield debut and he played his first internationals (one day cricket) from his beloved Queensland. He is a Queenslander, no doubt about it.
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9. Scott Brant
A multi-talented sportsman, Brant was a lovely swing bowler who didn’t play the volume of first class cricket he would have hoped for due to the depth and strength of the Queensland pace bowling stocks - and injury.
From Zimbabwe where he shone in an array of sports, Brant finished his schooling at St Joseph’s Nudgee College and earned state selection through a series of classy efforts for his club Norths. He sustained ankle and knee injuries and although he did mount a successful comeback, he was never the same bowler than when he burst onto the scene.
10. Scott Walter
I don’t think anyone quite knows how many wickets the recently retired Scott Walter took for his club University. It was at least 600 first grade wickets, but could have been closer to 650 plus. It is somewhat surprising that he did not play more for his state - but from his 11 appearances for Queensland in Shield cricket he has a nice return to be proud of - 34 wickets at 30.73 - including a strike rate of 50.20.
11. Matthew Anderson
The tall Sandgate-Redcliffe left arm orthodox spinner, Anderson has the distinction of being a Sheffield Shield winner. In 2000-01 he helped the Bulls to the title, bowling in support from one end while Queensland’s big quicks went about dismantling opposition line-ups. He claimed 27 wickets in his 15 Shield games, but a neat economy rate played its part in Queensland’s success at the time.
The Contemporary club cricket left handed XI: Bryce Street, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Sam Heazlett, Lachlan Pfeffer, Jason Floros, Matthew Kuhnemann, Scott Walter, Matt Willans, Preston White, Jack Woods, Paddy Dooley.
Honourable mentions: Noah McFadyen, Lachlan Crump, Ryan Walker, Andrew Robinson, Steve Paulsen, Aryan Jain.
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