Maher wins Player of Year

Queensland batsman Jimmy Maher tonight capped off a season of success by winning the Ian Healy Trophy as the XXXX Bulls Player of the Year.

Maher, 28, learned of his award during his Australia's tour of South Africa where he made his return to the One Day International team for the first time since his debut in 1997-98.

The left-handed opener was announced as the 2001-2002 winner of the Healy Trophy at tonight's Suncorp Metway Bulls End of Season Awards dinner at the Sheraton Hotel.

Maher enjoyed an exceptional season with the bat, topping the Australian first class run-scoring list with 1194 runs and was the joint winner of the Pura Cup Player of the Year, sharing the award with Brad Hodge from Victoria.

Although he missed out on helping his Bulls team-mates win their third Pura Cup title in a row, he won man of the match awards in his first two One Day International appearances in South Africa.

During the season he became the second leading domestic one-day runs-scorer of all-time behind Darren Lehmann and captained the Bulls for the first time in the Pura Cup and ING Cup competitions.

Maher, who played his 100th first class match for Queensland during the season, also won the Suncorp Metway Players' Player award as voted by his team-mates.

Other winners on the night, as voted by the Queensland selection panel, included :

The Konica Queensland Fire Women's Player of the Year was also announced, with right-arm pace bowler Cindy Kross earning the honour after being the Fire's leading wicket-taker for the second season in a row.

The evening also featured a special presentation to departing coach Bennett King, who takes up his new position as Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy coach next week after guiding the Bulls to a hat-trick of Pura Cup titles.