Michael Robert John Veletta (born 30 October 1963) is a former Australian

cricketer 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 ...

. He played in eight Test matches and 20

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s between 1987 and 1990. He played 127 first-class matches including 114

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 ...

matches, and 41 domestic one-day matches for

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 ...

. Veletta was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the

1987 Cricket World Cup The 1987 Cricket World Cup (officially known as the Reliance Cup 1987 for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth Cricket World Cup. It was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan – the first such tournament to be held outsid ...

International career

In the

Veletta played a pivotal role for Australia. In the final against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

he slammed 45 off only 31 balls, an innings that was ultimately decisive as Australia edged out England by the narrow margin of seven runs. However at Test level he never really performed to his potential. The dogged opener got numerous starts, but failed to reach a half-century, his highest score being 39. He toured India in 1986. Veletta was dropped from the Test side after a score of 9 against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in the washed out 3rd Test played in Sydney in February 1990. He was in the 1989 Ashes tour party to England and appeared in a One Day International as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Coaching career

In 2001 he was appointed coach of the

Western Warriors The Western Australian Men’s cricket team, formerly nicknamed the Western Warriors, represent the Australian state of Western Australia in Australian domestic cricket. The team is selected and supported by the Western Australian Cricket Asso ...

; however the Western Australian Cricket Association terminated the contract after two years of the three-year contract. The remainder of his contract was paid out in full. He coached the Domestic One day side the

Canberra Comets The ACT Comets (also known as the Canberra Comets, previously the Federal Capital Territory) are a cricket team that represent the Australian Capital Territory. The Comets are the premier team of the Cricket ACT who are affiliated with Cricket ...

from 1995–96 to 1998–99.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veletta, Mike 1963 births Living people Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Australian cricket coaches Western Australia cricketers ACT Comets cricketers Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia Australian cricketers Wicket-keepers