Australia’s best domestic 50 over players: Queensland

In this series of articles I am selecting teams for each state comprising the best performed domestic 50 overs players in that competition’s history. This time we have the Queensland team.

Jimmy Maher (1993-2008)

3 titles, 4,589 runs at 44.99. 10 centuries. 13 man of the match awards

Jimmy Maher may be Queensland’s greatest ever limited overs player. Maher scored three centuries in grand finals – no one else has scored even two. He is one of only two players to win two man of the match awards in grand finals.

Ironically, two of those grand final centuries came in losing causes.

Maher’s 429 runs in finals (at 53.6) is the second most in history behind only Michael Bevan (with 515 runs at 103!).
Maher has the third most runs and man of the match awards in history, and captained the most matches for QLD. He was never out for a duck in 128 innings, with the next best being Usman Khawaja with just 64.

Maher topped the competition runs in 1996/97 and QLD’s runs a record 6 times. His 187 from 129 balls against WA in 2003/04 was a competition record at the time.

Matt Hayden (1992-2007)

1 title, 2,616 runs at 50.3. 8 centuries. 9 man of the match awards. 2 man of the series awards

Matt Hayden has the 9th highest average in competition history and highest for QLD. He was player of the series in 1998/99 and 1999/2000 and topped the competition runs both times. Hayden scored the 3rd most career runs for QLD and his 8 centuries is behind only Jimmy Maher.

Using a combined average and strike rate measure Hayden ranks 10th in history (competition’s top 50 run scorers) and is 2nd for Queensland.

Usman Khawaja plays a switch hit (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)

Usman Khawaja (2012-2022)

1 title, 2,459 runs at 50.2. 6 centuries. 5 man of the match awards and 1 man of the series award

Usman Khawaja has the 10th highest average in competition history. On the combined average and strike rate (discussed above) he ranks 6th and is comfortably the highest placed Queensland player on that list.

Khawaja won the man of the series in 2019/20. He topped the competition runs in 2014/15 and has been QLD’s highest run scorer 5 times.

Khawaja was man of the match in the 2013/14 final, scoring 104 from 100 balls to defeat NSW by 5 wickets in the highest successful run chase in grand final history (317).

Together with wicket keeper Chris Hartley, Khawaja recorded the highest partnership in competition history for any wicket: 280 against Tasmania in October 2014.

Greg Chappell (1974-1983)

2 titles, 682 runs at 34.1. 27 wickets at 18.22. 3 man of the match awards

Greg Chappell was a champion batsman, but his medium pace bowling also had a big impact in the one day game. Chappell has the 6th best bowling average in history, taking 27 wickets from 20 matches. He is the only player to have a career average below 20, economy rate under 4 and strike rate below 30 (minimum 20 wickets).

Chappell topped the competition runs and wickets in the same season in 1975/76 – only Steve Waugh has also achieved this. That year, Chappell dominated the grand final with 61 runs and 3 wickets to defeat WA by just 4 runs. He later captained QLD to another title in 1980/81.

Stuart Law (1989-2004)

2 titles, 2,534 runs at 35.69. 6 centuries. 21 wickets at 28.52. 8 man of the match awards and 1 man of the series award

Stuart Law sits 4th on QLD’s all time runs list. His career strike rate of 93.16 is nearly 20 runs better than the players above him. Of the top 50 run scorers in competition history, Law’s strike rate ranks 4th.

Law topped the competition runs in 1993/94 and in 2003/04. In the latter season Law scored 570 runs, the most ever for QLD and 4th highest in competition history.

Law also managed to top the state’s wickets tally in 1993/94 making him one of the few to top both runs and wickets for their state in a single season.

Honourable mentions: Clinton Perren, Nathan Reardon, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Lee Carseldine, Chris Lynn, Allan Border.

Stuart Law (R) captained Queensland in the 1999 Mercantile Mutual cup. (Tony Feder/ALLSPORT)

James Hopes (2001-2015)

4 titles, 155 wickets at 27.32. 2,291 runs at 25.74. 2 centuries. 13 man of the match awards. 1 man of the series award.

James Hopes has been the pre-eminent all rounder in domestic one day cricket, being the only player to score 2,000 runs and take 100 wickets. The next best all-rounders are in a tier of 1,000 runs and 50 wickets (only one of these even took 80 wickets).

Hopes has the most wickets in competition history more than 30 ahead of 2nd place. He topped the competition wickets in QLD’s winning 2006/07 season.

Other accolades include:
– The 2nd most career 4 wicket hauls.
– The 3rd most career man of the match awards.
– Most finals appearances and wins for QLD.

Hopes took 3 wickets in an innings in grand finals twice: in QLD’s 2001/02 loss to NSW and in their 2013/14 victory over the Blues. The only other Queensland player to achieve this feat was the underrated Scott Prestwidge.

Chris Hartley (2004-2015)

4 titles, 2,057 runs at 33.17. 1 century. 122 dismissals. 2 man of the match awards

Chris Hartley just pips Wade Seccombe and Jimmy Pierson to take the gloves for QLD. Hartley stands 5th in competition history for dismissals and won 4 titles, equal most in QLD history.

Hartley was always one to rely on when the chips were down, including top scoring with a patient and vital 49 not out in the 2008/09 grand final win over Victoria. Coming in at 5 for 56, Hartley hit his runs at the test match strike rate of around 48, and shared two 50 run partnerships to drag QLD to 187. This proved to be just enough, with QLD bowling Victoria out for 175.

Hartley’s batting improved to the point where he opened the batting and topped QLD’s season runs in 2012/13 and scored 78 in QLD’s 2013/14 grand final victory.

Greg Chappell was one of Australia’s finest batsmen. (Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)

Andy Bichel (1992-2007)

3 titles, 87 wickets at 33.8. 1 x 4 wickets. 812 runs at 20.3. 3 man of the match awards

Andy Bichel was the ideal one day cricketer, able to take wickets, keep it tight and do some lower order hitting as well. His 87 wickets are third most for QLD. Bichel topped the competition wickets in 1999/2000.

Bichel won three titles from 6 grand final appearances. His economy rate in grand finals was just 3.66, including 3 wickets for 25 from 8 overs in the 1997/98 final, won by 2 wickets over NSW.

That final also showcased Bichel’s batting, contributing 30 runs in a low scoring affair. Bichel was a good enough batsman to average over 20 and hit three half centuries, and he played first drop for most of 2004/05 when QLD finished second.

Nathan Hauritz (2001-2013)

1 title, 80 wickets at 30.4. 4 x 4 wickets. 1 man of the match

Nathan Hauritz is QLD’s stand out spin bowler in one day cricket, ranking fifth on the state’s all-time wickets list.
Hauritz topped QLD’s season wickets 3 times in a row from 2001/02, winning a title in 2003/04.

Hauritz also played for NSW he is one of only two specialist bowlers to play 100 career matches (alongside Tasmania’s Xavier Doherty) taking the third most wickets in competition history.

Geoff Dymock (1972-1982)

3 titles, 39 wickets at 19.2. 1 x 5 wickets

Dymock topped the wickets tally for the competition in 1972/73 when QLD were runners up and again in 1981/82 when they won the title. In 1981/82, Dymock produced a masterclass of 5 wickets for 27 runs in the final, defeating NSW. The man of the match went to a batsman of course – Wayne Broad with 85 runs.

Dymock has the third best average and economy rate in history. His 11 wickets in finals is still the second most all-time.

Jeff Thomson (1974-1986)

2 titles, 35 wickets at 23.45. 1 x 5 wickets. 1 man of the match

Jeff Thomson topped the competition wickets twice, in 1978/79 and 1980/81, with QLD winning the title in that later year.

In the 1978/79 season Thomson only played one match but his 6 wickets for 18 runs in 10 overs was enough to top the season’s wickets. It was the competition’s first 6 wicket haul and would remain the best bowling figures for over a decade.

In QLD’s winning 1980/81 season, Thomson never took less than two wickets per innings. In the following year, Thomson took 3 for 34 in the semi final to help QLD defend 238 and subsequently win their second title.

Honourable mentions: Scott Prestwidge, Ben Cutting, Michael Neser, Michael Kasprowicz, Mark Steketee, Carl Rackemann, Ben Laughlin, Adam Dale and Malcolm Francke.