Former Australian player Adam Dale will make his long-awaited return
from a shoulder injury in Darwin later this month.
Dale, who underwent major surgery to his right shoulder in November last
year after playing the first Pura Cup match for Queensland, will play
his first game in nine months for the Queensland Academy of Sport in the
annual State Institutes' Challenge from August 23.
The 31-year-old right-arm swing bowler will use the round-robin one-day
tournament to test his full recovery from the surgery and ensuing
rehabilitation as well as gain valuable playing time as the XXXX
Queensland Bulls enter their pre-season build-up.
The only Queensland member of the 1999 World Cup champion team, Dale has
taken 188 first class wickets for the Bulls at 21.71.
He will be the most experienced player in the QAS team, with off-spinner
Scott O'Leary and opening batsman Daniel Payne also having tasted first
class cricket.
Wicket-keeper Chris Hartley is in his second year in the Bulls squad
while pace bowler Steve Magoffin, Australian Under-19 batsman Craig
Philipson and opening batsman Chris Simpson are all Queensland
rookie-contracted players in 2002-03.
Simpson, who scored 113 last week for the Commonwealth Bank Cricket
Academy against their South African counterparts in Townsville, will
captain the QAS team.
The Darwin series features academy or institute of sport teams from
Queensland, NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania as well the CBCA and the
Northern Territory representative team.
Included in the Queensland team are promising Toowoomba duo Cameron
Glass and Peter Reimers, who were key performers in the Queensland
Country team that won the national championships in Warrnambool last
season. Glass, a 21-year-old right-arm pace bowler, and Reimers, a
19-year-old allrounder, are members of the QAS Regional cricket program.
Queensland Academy of Sport team: Chris Simpson (c), Duncan Betts, Adam
Dale, Luke Davis, Ben Edmondson, Cameron Glass, Chris Hartley, Nick
Kruger, Steve Magoffin, Scott O'Leary, Daniel Payne, Matthew Petrie,
Craig Philipson, Peter Reimers. Coach: Richard Done.