Brendon Julian Cricketer
Brendon Paul Julian (born 10 August 1970, Hamilton, New Zealand) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 7 Tests and 25 ODIs from 1993 to 1999. He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1989. Standing at 6' 5", he was a dangerous left-arm fast-medium bowler and a tremendously hard-hitting right-handed late-middle order batsman, he was regarded as a prospect to become an all-rounder. When on form, his bowling was particularly lethal, with the awkward angle of delivery being a left-armer, the natural swing, and the lift he generated from his great height. However, his bowling average was mediocre, comparable to part-time bowlers such as Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh. In batting, he was a destructive striker of the ball when on song, but top scores of 56* and 35 in Test matches and ODIs respectively, along with averages of 16 and 13, comparable to tail-enders such as Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh suggest that this was rarely the case. He had two short spells in the Australian Test team. His first stint was in the 1993 Ashes tour against England when he scored a gritty 56*, and secondly his tight and penetrative bowling spells in the history making West Indies tour of 1995 when in the absence of injured Craig McDermott and Damien Fleming, he and Paul Reiffel undertook new ball responsibilities. He was a regular member of the One-day team during 1998 and 1999, being a member of the winning squad at the 1999 Cricket World Cup, despite being confined to the bench for the majority of the tournament. He was dropped after the tournament. He is particularly remembered for the Sheffield Shield finals of 1997–98 and 1998–99, in which innings of 124 and 84 respectively played major roles in leading the Western Warriors to back-to-back titles. He retired in 2001 to become a presenter in the travel programme Getaway for Channel 9 in Australia. He later presented sports news on Nine News Afternoon Edition, before moving to Fox Sports (Australia). On Fox Sports he is a commentator on domestic cricket matches, host of 'Inside Cricket' and hosting Australia's 2009 tour of South Africa.
