Rob Baker      

A quiet and unassuming cricketer, Rob Baker showed great promise as a junior player, ultimately becoming Australia's under-19 captain in 1994 and an inductee of the Australian Cricket Academy the same year. As a skilled middle order batsman and handy left arm spin bowler, he duly progressed to make his senior state debut in 1995-96 and compiled a superb 83 in the Sheffield Shield Final that season to underline his ability. Depth in batting resources made it hard for him to win a permanent berth for the next three seasons but, when he struck his maiden first-class century (against Tasmania in Perth) in 1998-99 and followed it with a defiant 88 in grim circumstances in Melbourne to steer the Warriors into that season's Shield Final, it seemed his place in the Western Australian senior side was secure. Yet, shortly after becoming the first bowler to take a hat-trick for the state in a domestic one-day match, Baker's career then stalled as the legacy of an on-field collision with a club teammate in late 1999 which presented him with a fractured cheekbone. Even worse was to follow when the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome cut him down in 2000, forcing him to undergo a long period of recovery that ensured that another two years passed before he was able to play for Western Australia again. (John Polack, January 2002)

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