BRAD HODGE – VICTORIAN CRICKET, AUSTRALIAN TEST, ONE DAY

Brad Hodge is one of crickets most prolific run scorers with more than 17,000 first class runs at an Average of 48.81. He is sitting fifth on Australia’s all-time leading Sheffield Shield run scoring list with 10,474 runs. He finished his test career with an average of 55 and a highest score of 203 not out. 

Since retiring from long form cricket, he has turned his focus to the shortest form of the game Twenty20. He has represented 19 different Twenty20 teams throughout his travels and is currently number 5 on the list of all time runs with 7338 at an average of 36.87 with a highest score of 106. 

These days Brad has taken a step back from playing and turned his hand to coaching. After being a playing assistant coach with the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash he was given the senior coaching role with the Gujarat Lions in their first season in the Indian Premier League in 2015. Later that year he was named coach of the Cricket Australia XI in the Matador One Day Cup. Brad has coached many franchise T20 teams around the world but has now switched his focus more to the commentary side of the game with Channel 7 in the Big Bash and Star Sports India in International cricket.

DAMIEN FLEMING – VICTORIAN CRICKET, AUSTRALIAN TEST, ONE DAY

Damien Fleming is a former Australian cricketer who played in 20 Test matches and 88 One Day Internationals from 1994 to 2001 in an all-conquering Australian cricket team breaking Test and One day records and winning World Cups. Damien was recognised as an expert in the art of swing bowling and is one of only three men to have taken a Hat-Trick on Test debut.

In ODI’s he was seen as a specialist bowling in the latter overs. Damien was the last-over specialist in both the 1996 and 1999 World Cup Semi-Finals. In 1996 at Mohali with the West Indies needing six runs to win off five balls, Damien bowled Courtney Walsh for victory. In 1999 at Edgbaston with South Africa requiring one run with four balls remaining, it took a Run Out brain-fade to send Australia into the final. And Damien helped Australia get over the line on both occasions.

Following his retirement in 2003 he was appointed coach at The Australian Cricket Academy. It was around this time that the beginnings of his Bowlology theory began to take sh. ‘Flem” has also published a best-selling book “Bowlology- Stories from the Avenue of Apprehension” A collection of humorous stories based around his life in cricket.

Today, Damien is a popular and humorous figure on the public speaking circuit, including hosting the MCC Boxing Day breakfast since 2010 and regular questions are asked of the last over he bowled in the 1999 semi-final tie against South Africa and that dropped catch by Shane Warne which denied him his second hat-trick.