James Patrick Maher (born 27 February 1974) is an Australian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played One Day Internationals. He is "an attractive left-handed batsman with a clumping cover-drive". He was a part of the Australian squad which won the

2003 Cricket World Cup The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the ...

. Maher competed in the Gladiator Team Sports Challenge in 1995.

Domestic career

The following two seasons were a prolific pair for Maher playing for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, a time which included a period at

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. In 2001–02, he became the first batsman to reach 1000 runs in the

Pura Cup The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Lord Sheffield. Prior to the Shield bei ...

. On 25 February 2007, Maher was named Man of the Match in the Ford Rangers Cup Final against the

Victorian Bushrangers The Victoria cricket team is an Australian first-class men's cricket team based in the Australian state of Victoria. The men’s team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria in the Marsh Sheffield Shield first-class ...

after making 108 from 133 balls. The

Queensland Bulls The Queensland men's cricket team or the Queensland Bulls is the representative cricket side in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments for the Australian state of Queensland: *Sheffield Shield: four-day matches with first-class status, sinc ...

went on to win the match by 21 runs. It was the third time that he had scored a century for Queensland in a One Day domestic final. He retired from all types of

at the end of the Australian 2007–08 domestic season. Soon afterwards, he joined the Zee Telefilms' rebel

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

, playing for the Hyderabad Heroes as an opening batsman. Having spent two season at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

Maher played for

in 2007 after supporters funded the signing.

International career

He was first selected to play for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in two one-day matches in 1997–98, due to illness and injury respectively to

Mark Waugh Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debut ...

and

Steve Waugh Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman and a medium-pace bowler, Waugh is considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. ...

. He came back into the international fold in 2002, after the Waugh brothers were sacked following an ODI season in which Australia failed to make the finals of the triangular ODI series. He responded with a steady innings of 95 against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He was included in the Australian ODI squad as a spare batsman and as a fill-in wicketkeeper for the next few seasons, including the

Controversy

On 11 February 2007 Maher was criticised by South Australian cricket captain

Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...

for not declaring to make a game of their

match at the Gabba. Lehmann said he thought he was playing

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

referring to Tasmania's reliance on final day run chases. Maher caused controversy in 1995 following Queensland's

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

win over South Australia, when he said during a television interview "I'm as full as a coon's Valiant".

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

criticised Maher for his statement and its racial undertone. Maher later publicly apologised over the statement.''Koori Mail'', "Maher apologises at Shield celebration", 19 April 1995, p. 16.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Jimmy 1974 births Australia One Day International cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Living people Queensland cricketers Queensland cricket captains Durham cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England ICL World XI cricketers Hyderabad Heroes cricketers People from Innisfail, Queensland Australian cricketers Cricketers from Queensland Wicket-keepers 21st-century Australian sportsmen