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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

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