da leao： Queensland Country will stake its Australian Country championshipprospects on a blend of old and new when they travel to Bundaberg nextmonth to defend their national title.
Queensland Cricket10-Dec-2002Queensland Country will stake its Australian Country championshipprospects on a blend of old and new when they travel to Bundaberg nextmonth to defend their national title.The XXXX Country team, captained by Toowoomba’s David Else for thesecond year in a row, contains seven members from the team that won thetitle last season in Barooga in Victoria.Else, wicket-keeper Steven Baker, pace bowler Cameron Glass, allrounderPeter Reimers and batsmen Brian May, Craig Murree and Geoff Paulsen willform the nucleus of the Queensland team that is chasing back-to-backtitles for the first time.The team also contains previous Queensland Country selections in theexperienced pairing of Darren Frakes and Paul Toohey and pace bowlerKris Johnson.New faces in the squad include Cairns allrounder Thomas Maher, a cousinof XXXX Bulls captain Jimmy Maher, Hervey Bay batsman Josh Bryen andLoganholme pace bowler Jason Stein.Maher, a physiotherapist, played first grade for University ofQueensland two seasons ago before returning to Cairns.Bryen comes into the Country team after forging an international careerin another sport – softball.Bryen represented Australia in the softball World Cup in South Africa in2000 while playing in Victoria and was batter of the tournament in the2001 Australian softball titles.Stein, a right-arm pace bowler, is a former Queensland Academy of Sportscholar who played five seasons of first grade with Norths andrepresented Queensland at Under-19 level.The QAS Regional Program has produced two players for the titles in theform of Toowoomba duo Reimers and Glass.The team will be coached by last year’s championship coach RichardMcInness and Central Queensland Regional Cricket Manager Vic Williams.The Australian titles will be held in Bundaberg from January 5 to 16,the fourth time they have been staged in Queensland.The championships will include a one-day match between the XXXXQueensland Bulls and the Australian Country team on Sunday, January 12.2002-03 Queensland Country Team: David Else (Toowoomba, capt) StevenBaker (Townsville, wk), Josh Bryen (Hervey Bay), Darren Frakes(Townsville), Cameron Glass (Toowoomba), Kris Johnson (Bundaberg),Thomas Maher (Cairns), Brian May (Ipswich), Craig Murree (Bundaberg),Geoff Paulsen (Beaudesert), Peter Reimers (Toowoomba), Jason Stein(Beenleigh/Logan), Paul Toohey (Toowoomba). Richard McInnes (Coach), VicWilliams (Coach), Bob Dieckmann (Manager).