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XXXX GOLD BULLS 9<br />
HARRIS FEELS RIGHT AT HOME IN QUEENSLAND<br />
The first man headhunted<br />
from interstate<br />
to play for <strong>Queensland</strong><br />
since the current contracting<br />
system was introduced<br />
by <strong>Cricket</strong> Australia<br />
in 1998 is feeling<br />
right home with the<br />
XXXX GOLD Bulls.<br />
Strongly-built bowling<br />
all-rounder Ryan Harris,<br />
a member of the 2007-<br />
08 Pura Cup Team of the<br />
Year, began training at<br />
the start of last month.<br />
“My first impressions<br />
have been excellent. I<br />
know I’ve made the right<br />
decision,” he said of his<br />
move from South Australia.<br />
“The whole place is very<br />
professional and the<br />
guys and everyone at<br />
<strong>Queensland</strong> <strong>Cricket</strong> have<br />
been excellent.<br />
“I’m glad I’m here.”<br />
Harris took 37 wickets at<br />
29.86 for the Redbacks<br />
last season to finish<br />
among the top five leading<br />
wicket-takers in<br />
four-day cricket, and averaged<br />
24.20 with the<br />
bat in some handy lower<br />
order displays.<br />
He also has a solid strike<br />
rate in one-day cricket,<br />
having snared 49 wickets<br />
from 44 matches,<br />
and averaged almost 17<br />
with the bat. He has<br />
been even more damaging<br />
in the KFC Twenty20<br />
Big Bash, grabbing 11<br />
wickets at 17.45 and<br />
conceding just 6.4 runs<br />
an over.<br />
Harris, who will turn 29<br />
the day after the new<br />
season starts, will provide<br />
valuable experience<br />
to an attack that has<br />
been injury-stricken in<br />
the past two seasons.<br />
Ryan Harris sends down a thunderbolt for South Australia at<br />
the Gabba last season.<br />
“I’m a bowling allrounder<br />
but my batting<br />
has improved over the<br />
last two years. I’m hoping<br />
to work closely with<br />
Trevor Barsby to take it<br />
to a higher level again,”<br />
he said.<br />
Apart from a family holiday<br />
at Noosa 10 years<br />
ago, the only time he<br />
has spent in <strong>Queensland</strong><br />
has been playing cricket<br />
at the Gabba.<br />
“I love playing at the<br />
Gabba, it really suits my<br />
bowling,” he said. “The<br />
last time I bowled here<br />
was probably the best<br />
I’ve bowled in my career.<br />
Harris bowled beautifully<br />
in tandem with a rampant<br />
Shaun Tait to help<br />
the Redbacks to their<br />
first Pura Cup win in<br />
Brisbane in almost a<br />
decade.<br />
“To be playing 10 or 12<br />
of the 25 games there<br />
next season is really exciting,”<br />
he said.<br />
Harris did this interview<br />
sitting in his car outside<br />
a real estate agent’s office<br />
waiting to sign a 12-<br />
month lease on a place<br />
close to the Allan Border<br />
Field, which will give him<br />
time to look around for a<br />
place to buy. He has<br />
signed for three years<br />
with the Bulls.<br />
His girlfriend Cherie will<br />
join him here within the<br />
next few months but hedoes<br />
have some familiar<br />
faces around him with<br />
his brother, sister-in-law<br />
and their three kids all<br />
living in Brisbane, which<br />
was a determining factor<br />
in the move north.<br />
Continued page 10