Bulls on Parade

 
How good are the Queensland Bulls going?  It seems that the injection needed for this team was good leadership at the top and that has come in the form of Darren Lehmann.  Queensland are undefeated so far this year and it looks like Lehmann has this team firing on all fronts and the self belief is high.  All the players have been talking highly of him and it is no wonder that the likes of Shane Warne are calling for Lehmann to be the National coach.  Before I get into that issue though lets just look at what Queensland have done so far.

First up in the Sheffield Shield Queensland took on Victoria and came away with a  great outright result.  It was also good to see new player Forrest from NSW score a hundred in the second innings but overall it was a team effort.  Any win over Victoria is good but even better when you are missing the likes of Hopes, Lynn, Swann and Harris and your younger brigade all come out and stand up.

Then in the last Shield game Queensland absolutely humiliated defending Champions Tasmania by an innings.  This was a match where Cutting and Harris absolutely tore through the Tasmanian batting and in the second innings Harris showed why he should be regarded as the best bowler in Australia at the moment.  In conditions favourable to bowling you still have to put the ball in the right spot and looking at his dismissals you can see why he is so good. Of his 7 second Innings wickets three were caught by the keeper and three were bowled.  This is a perfect example of why you bowl on and about off stump.  This is something a lot of the Australian Bowlers need to learn.

Two shield games and two outright victories has Queensland well placed at the start of the season, nicely on top.

Also in the Ryobi One Day Cup Queensland is on top of the table.

First of all saw Victory against Victoria who are usually the dominant team every year and in the second game a close win was achieved over Tasmania, although Tasmania should never have gotten that close.

Queensland currently have a team with a good mixture of experience, youth and talent.  Add to that a couple of interstate players with talent who are finding a new lease of life up in the sunshine state and it is a winning combination. This is a team that is playing with a lot of self belief and with the belief of the coach.  And this leads me back to the point about Lehmann being pushed for the National job.  Yes I agree Lehmann could go one to become a great coach for Australia but firstly let him accomplish an achievement at state level and prove he can do it over a period of time.