James Hopes

James Hopes was one of the many utility all-rounders Australia fielded in the 2000s. With his burly figure, he had the ability to hit the ball a mile and could also bowl accurate medium pace to stifle the batsman. It was the ideal combination for limited-overs cricket although he had gained immense success in the Sheffield Shield. Australia chose to look at him as a white-ball package and he predominantly featured in ODIs while also getting a few games in the T20 format that was just about spreading its wings at that point. Hopes was a wily customer, be it with bat or ball and his intelligence gave him captaincy responsibilities at the State level, a role that he carried out with absolute success.

Although a floater by design as a batsman, Hopes was at his best in the lower middle order at six or seven where he would often use the long handle effectively to give the ideal finish to the innings. The nature of his role meant that consistency wasn't always there but when he came off, the match was invariably tilted in favor of Australia. Hopes' maiden ODI fifty was a famous one as it came in the second VB series final against India in 2008. Australia lost the match by a whisker but Hopes' heroics were lauded. However, immense competition for spots dented his chances of getting a longer run. The likes of Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Steven Smith and Cameron White all had similar designs which made it tough for the think tank to fit Hopes in all the time.

Hopes' disappointments included being ignored for the 2007 and 2011 World Cups although he was part of the 2009 Champions Trophy squad. After 2010, he never got picked for Australia and so, decided to focus on his domestic career with a slight hope of a comeback some day. That never happened but he did continue to produce excellent performances in the domestic circuit. He also involved himself with franchise T20 leagues like the BBL and IPL with moderate returns. After a lot of success, both for
Queensland and personally, Hopes decided to hang up his boots from the First-class cricket after the 2015-16 season