Ben Targett

One of the tallest first class cricketers in Australia, Ben Targett is a right arm fast bowler, handy lower order batsman and sound fieldsman for Tasmania in domestic competition. A former cricketing captain at one of the State's best known private schools, Targett showed consistent promise as a junior player and was accordingly invited to join the senior State squad in 1991 at the age of eighteen. However, given that cricket took a back seat to his university studies and a subsequent career in business and marketing in the years immediately thereafter, so his ability to forge an opportunity at the first class level waned and it was not until 1997 that he received the chance to re-join the squad. From there, he again made rapid strides - not only hastily recapturing a berth in the squad but also making his debut in just the third match of the 1997-98 Sheffield Shield season.

Of his bowling, it can be said that standing out most about Targett are his penchant for bowling accurate, patient spells and his production of immaculately aimed leg cutters. Whilst he is not a big swinger of the ball, his capacity to cut the ball the other way and to surprise batsmen with subtle variations in movement also set him apart. A player who should receive greater opportunities in forthcoming years (as Tasmania recovers from the interstate departure of Colin Miller and the impending retirement of fast bowling stalwart, Mark Ridgway), it is likely that Targett's ability to successfully operate along a disciplined line and length during the closing stages of one-day matches will add even further lustre to a reputation which has been growing steadily ever since he captured twenty-three wickets in the nine games in which he played in his debut season. (John Polack, October 1999)