Queensland v Victoria, Preliminary Final, Brisbane, Jan 21

OP Tipping wrote:"Didn't know you are a Villian.."

S'why I am ever referring to Midge as the boy from my home town...

OP Tipping wrote:"It's either The Final or it isn't - FFS!"

Must you disrespect everything we do?

Basil wrote:Preliminary Final !!! How the feck does that work?

It's either The Final or it isn't - FFS!

OP Tipping wrote:Well what would you call it?

OP Tipping wrote:He seems to have come back well from that spine trouble.

I heard him interviewed on the ABC radio on the weekend. I guess because of his age, the ship carrying his national representation hopes has sailed. If there's any chance at all, it would be by impressing in the T20s enough to get a gig in an international T20, and being successful enough to merit ODI consideration.

I wonder if he is putting his hat in the ring for the next round of IPL auctions.

Only months after rejoining the ranks of first class cricket, Lee Carseldine's swashbuckling form in the domestic Twenty20 competition stands to pay off handsomely.

The Queensland batsman's name will be on the board at the Indian Premier League player auction on February 6 and after yet another sparkling knock to set up the Bulls' 62-run victory over Western Australia last night, he looks a bargain buy for the eight sub-continent franchises.

Carseldine smashed 74 off 45 balls at the WACA ground, continuing a stunning Twenty20 season in which he has plundered 249 runs at an average of 124.5 and helped book the Bulls a place in next Wednesday's preliminary final.

The 33-year-old led Queensland to an imposing total of 3-189 before they dismissed the Warriors for just 127 in 17.5 overs.

Having missed nearly four years of cricket with a serious back injury before his return to the Bulls side last last year, an Indian pay cheque could hardly be deposited into the bank account of a more deserving cricketer.

"I have been nominated for the auction, it's just a matter of hopefully them taking notice and me maybe getting picked up," Carseldine said before boarding a plane back to Brisbane.

"One thing I do have on my side is I'd be a bit cheaper. Some of the less expensive guys like Shaun Marsh did very well last year so maybe they will see me as a bargain as well."

Marsh performed well indeed, finishing as the league's highest scorer with 616 runs in 11 matches for the Mohali-based Kings XI Punjab after being signed as a replacement for Simon Katich.

A player of Carseldine's pedigree could stand to earn somewhere in the region of $60,000 to $100,000 for the six-week IPL campaign should he be recruited, a far cry from the top earners MS Dhoni ($1.5m) and Andrew Symonds ($1.35m) but a handy addition to the hip pocket nonetheless.

"Obviously the finances would be a plus but from an experience point of view it would be unbelievable," Carseldine said.

"For people that haven't played for Australia or international cricket it's a true representation of what that's like.

"You're playing in front of big crowds in high-pressure situations and going up against some top-quality world-class players."

Adding to Carseldine's prospects is the fact that each franchise will this year have the option to purchase any number of new uncapped players - cricketers, like Carseldine, who have never played at senior international level and are not contracted by their national association.

The IPL auction will also feature the likes of Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait as well as England's centrally contracted players including Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison.

The IPL, in its second year, is scheduled to be played between April 10 and May 29, but despite his anticipation ahead of the player auction, Carseldine's immediate focus is on steering Queensland to the domestic Twenty20 title.

The Bulls' win over Western Australia gave them a record of three wins and two losses, qualifying them for the preliminary final at the Gabba next Wednesday against either South Australia or Victoria.

Carseldine was dropped three times en route to 74 while teammate Nathan Reardon also benefited from the Warriors' sloppy display in the field, accumulating 51 off 32 balls after being dropped on 10 by the hosts' wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi.

"Obviously I had a fair bit of lucky but when you take that many risks you're bound to sky a few in the air," Carseldine said.

"But I'm just lucky a few of their guys put them down."

After a career dating back to 1998 at first-class and domestic one-day level, Carseldine said the adjustment to the slog-a-thon world of Twenty20 had not been simple despite appearances to the contrary.

"It's a tough one to play," he said.

"There's no time to come back from either a bad over or a bad couple of overs whereas in 50-over cricket and the four-day game you can recover and turn things around.

"The game can get away from you so quickly. That's probably the biggest challenge."

Tickets go on sale for the Bulls' Twenty20 preliminary final this afternoon, with Queensland's opponents to be determined by the result of tomorrow's contest between New South Wales and Victoria.

MAMMOTH SCORE IN EDEV T20 FINAL


Monday 19 January 2009


Queensland Bulls skipper Chris Simpson tuned up for Wednesday’s KFC Twenty20 Big Bash preliminary final against Victoria with a stunning performance with the bat in the Edev Property Group First Grade final yesterday.


Simpson hammered 98 off 49 balls and Sheffield Shield teammate Ryan Broad a remarkable 135 off 51 balls as Wynnum-Manly reached a mammoth 5-274 off 20 overs.


The University of Queensland bowlers were powerless to stop the onslaught as Broad smashed 15 sixes and three fours, most hits clearing the Allan Border Field boundary by a considerable distance.


Chasing an unbelievable 14 runs per over to win, University was bowled out for a usually healthy 189, with the batting line-up sharing the scores evenly.


In-form Bull Nathan Reardon lasted two balls for his four runs, while Wynnum-Manly’s Jason Seng crowned a huge day for the club with a five-wicket haul.


However, Broad was a unanimous winner of the Andrew Symonds Trophy for best player in the record-breaking final.

Basil wrote:Preliminary Final !!! How the feck does that work?

It's either The Final or it isn't - FFS!

OP Tipping wrote:Well what would you call it?