The Bulls Masters called in the big guns for the seventh annual pilgrimage to the Bundaberg Region. In many astute cricket pundits eyes, Greg Chappell is second only to Don Bradman in Australian Cricket’s all-time best batsman list. The former Queensland Bulls and Australian captain jumped at the chance to lead the boys into battle one more time.
Chappell was joined by an all-star cast in Bundaberg that included Australian Sporting Hall of Fame inductee, Ian Healy AO, Former Australian fast bowlers Michael Kasprowicz and Adam Dale plus former Australian Cricket coach and three time World Cup winner Darren Lehmann to name a few.
The Bulls Masters aim, as always is to promote and foster the game of cricket and to provide inspiration to Regional Queensland children by engaging with the local community in many different ways. School Clinics are an important part of any tour and six lucky schools got to participate in clinics run by the Bulls Masters with assistance from the local Queensland Cricket ambassadors.
Avoca State School, Bundaberg North State School, Norville State School, St Lukes Anglican, Bargara State School, Woongarra State School, Baranyan Rd State School and St Patrick’s Catholic School all got visits from the Bulls Masters who ran cricket clinics for the kids.
After the kids had been entertained, it was time to put on the main show for the adults! The Sportsman’s Dinner at the Multiplex was again a sell-out with over 300 guests filling the Bundaberg Multiplex. The first guest speaker was the internationally renowned poet and author, Rupert McCall.
Rupert was interviewed by Pat Welsh first where he discussed his liberating yet risky move to quit his job as a lawyer to pursue his poetry full-time. The crowd were also lucky enough to hear a few renditions of some classic poems that resonated with the sports-mad town.
Greg Chappell hit the stage next and discussed his illustrious career as a player, commentator, selector and coach. Few in the world of cricket could boast a cricket resume that compares to Greg Chappell. His tales involved tales of some of the colourful players he played with through the seventies and early eighties such as Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Gary Sobers.
The final act of the Bulls Masters dinner was master comedian and ventriloquist, Darren Carr and his side-kick “Darryl”.
Darren had the audience in stitches as he played with a local car-salesman, Richard Seares on stage.
The night was a fundraising event for the Bundaberg Cricket Association. This particular dinner has been running annually and was in its seventh year. Over the previous six years, the Bundaberg dinner had raised in excess of $250,000 and when the final tallies are made, another hefty contribution will go to the grass-roots Regional Queensland cricket programs and infrastructure in the region.
The Bundaberg Tour rolled on the next day with a free kids Super Clinic and the T20 game against the best local cricketers in Bundaberg. A big crowd of kids showed up for the Super Clinic where all of the Bulls Masters got out on Salter Oval to help run activities.
This was just a bit of fun before the main-game where the Bundaberg Invitational XI got to play against the legends of Queensland Cricket in the annual Bulls Masters game. The locals were down 3-2 overall in the history of the game and they picked a young side to try and square the ledger.
The Bulls Masters won the toss and decided to bat first but tight bowling from the locals had them in trouble and they only managed to post a modest total of around 130.
The locals were determined to chase the runs down and got the job done easily in the end. A big congratulations to the Bundaberg Cricket Association!
