Ryan Harris and Nathan Reardon to line up for Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast first grade cricket competition

HIGH profile Australian cricketers Ryan Harris and Nathan Reardon will line up for Surfers Paradise in this season’s Cricket Gold Coast first grade competition.

Former Australian test bowler Ryan Harris will join Nathan Reardon at Surfers Paradise this season.

HIGH profile Australian cricketers Ryan Harris and Nathan Reardon will line up for Surfers Paradise in this season’s Cricket Gold Coast first grade competition.

The duo have signed on with the club and agreed to play for the Surfers Paradise senior men’s team throughout stages of the 2017-18 season in a massive coup for the organisation and cricket in the city.

Harris is a pace bowler who played 51 Test, one-day and Twenty20 matches for Australia before retiring in 2015 while Reardon featured in the country’s Twenty20 while largely forging his career with the Queensland Bulls.

Harris is currently a high performance coach for Cricket Australia while Reardon wasn’t offered a Big Bash contract.

Surfers Paradise first grade captain Chris Swan played with both at the Bulls and said they would help the development of the club’s young talent coming through.

Nathan Reardon was part of the Brisbane Heat Twenty20 Big Bash team in recent seasons. Photo: Jono Searle.

“Nathan will be playing whenever his business commitments allow but he is looking forward to getting on board,” Swan said.

“I’ve known Reardo for a long time through the Bulls and we played together and won one day premierships with each other. He has been a good mate for a long time.

“Ryan will also be playing the occasional game with us as well whenever his Cricket Australian commitments allow.

“When those blokes play it will be just a case of wheeling them out and getting some kids there so they can be around that sort of calibre of player.”

Neither Harris or Reardon will feature in today’s Round 1 game against Runaway Bay at Sam Loxton Oval but the latter is a chance of playing in Round 2 next weekend against reigning premiers Queens.

Swan has acted as both coach and captain over the last five years for Surfers Paradise but will step back from the former in order to help mentor the club’s junior coaches.

Scott Day and David McIntosh will coach the first grade team this season.