Jeffrey Mark Thomas (born 19 October 1971) is a former Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who represented

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in Australian domestic cricket as a right-handed

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

. He later took up coaching, and served as coach of the Canadian national team from 1999 to 2002. Born in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

, Thomas made his first-class debut in January 1994, in a

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

match against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

.First-class matches played by Jeff Thomas
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 April 2016. In a

Mercantile Mutual Cup The One-Day Cup, known as the Marsh One-Day Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an Australian domestic List A 50-over limited-overs cricket tournament. It has had many different names, formats and teams since the inaugural 1969-1970 season. Initi ...

game against the same team a few days later, he scored 71 runs from 125 balls opening the batting with

Trevor Barsby Trevor John Barsby (born 16 January 1964, in Brisbane), nicknamed "Tank" is a former Australian first class cricketer who played for Queensland. Barsby was an aggressive batsman, usually opening and often with Matthew Hayden. He is one of a sel ...

. He and

Stuart Law Stuart Grant Law (born 18 October 1968) is an Australian-born cricket coach and former cricketer. He played one Test and 54 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Australia. Law also captained Queensland to five Sheffield Shield titles and two one ...

put on 187 runs for the third wicket, setting a new Queensland

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

record. Thomas made another three appearances for Queensland during the 1993–94 season – Shield matches against

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and a Mercantile Mutual Cup fixture against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. He never regained his place in the team, but continued to play for the state second XI for several more seasons. Beginning in 1995, Thomas served as a player-coach for the

Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club is a private sport and social club located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club offers a variety of sporting and social programs including aquatics, cricket, croquet, curling, figure skating, fitne ...

, a club in Canada's Toronto and District Cricket Association. In 1999, he was appointed coach of the Canadian national team, with his first tournament in charge being the

1999–2000 Red Stripe Bowl The 1999–2000 Red Stripe Bowl was the 26th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 27 October to 7 November 1999. Eight ...

. He also had responsible for the national under-19 team, which he coached at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup.(10 January 2002)
"Canada's Under-19 squad departs for World Cup in New Zealand"
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 April 2016. At the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Canada ...

, Canada placed third to qualify for the 2003 World Cup (their first World Cup in 24 years). However, two months before the event, in December 2002, Thomas was unexpectedly sacked and replaced by

Gus Logie Augustine Lawrence Logie (born 28 September 1960), commonly known as Gus Logie, is a former West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago cricketer and is currently an international cricket coach. Logie played in the dominant West Indies team of the 1980 ...

. His sacking was said to be the subject of "disharmony between the players and the

Canadian Cricket Association Cricket Canada, known as the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) until November 2007, is the governing body of cricket in Canada. It was established in 1892 and has its current headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. It administers the national men' ...

", and he went on to sue the Canadian Cricket Association for

wrongful dismissal In law, wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer, where the termination breaches one or more terms of the contra ...

.(17 December 2002)
"Fired Canada Coach Suing CCA"
– CaribbeanCricket.com. Retrieved 2 April 2016.

References

External links

a
CricketArchive
a
ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Jeff 1971 births Living people Australian cricket coaches Australian cricketers Australian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Coaches of the Canada national cricket team Queensland cricketers Cricketers from Toowoomba