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

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 str ...

er, who played One Day Internationals. He is "an attractive left-handed batsman with a clumping cover-drive". 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 ) , 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 , establishe ...

, a time which included a period at Glamorgan. In 2001–02, he became the first batsman to reach 1000 runs in the

Pura Cup 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 ...

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

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

after making 108 from 133 balls. The

Queensland Bulls The Queensland cricket team or the Queensland Bulls is the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket side in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments: *Sheffield Shield: four-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926–27 sea ...

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 Essel Group, (also known as Zee Group) is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company and corporate promoter headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and pac ...

' rebel

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India. Its two seasons included tournaments between four international teams (World XI, India, Pakistan ...

, playing for the

Hyderabad Heroes Hyderabad Heroes was one of the eight teams that competed in the Indian Cricket League. The team was based in Hyderabad and its captain was former New Zealand player Chris Harris. Coach The inaugural coach for the Hyderabad Heroes was the forme ...

as an opening batsman. Having spent two season at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Maher played for Glamorgan in 2007 after supporters funded the signing.

International career

He was first selected to play for Australia 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) debu ...

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, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Austral ...

, but his performances were unspectacular. 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. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. 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

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 ...

, but never managed to obtain a regular place in the side.

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. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection fo ...

for not declaring to make a game of their

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

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

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

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 ...

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

coon Coon may refer to: Fauna Butterflies * Coon, common name of the butterfly ''Astictopterus jama'' * Coon, species group of the butterfly genus ''Atrophaneura'', now genus ''Losaria'' * Coon, common name of the butterfly '' Psolos fuligo'' Ma ...

's Valiant".

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

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 ICL World XI cricketers Hyderabad Heroes cricketers People from Innisfail, Queensland Australian cricketers Cricketers from Queensland Wicket-keepers