James Hopes

James Hopes Biography

James Redfern Hopes, also nicknamed as “Catfish”, is a former Australian cricketer. He was born on 24 October 1978 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. He was a right-arm medium fast bowler and was also quite aggressive with the bat.

He has represented Australia in ODIs and T20s and generally played as a middle order or lower order batsman. Hopes was said to be a largely underrated player because of the presence of other players in the Australian team like Cameron White, Shane Watson and Steve Smith.

Background

Hopes started playing professional cricket at a very early age of 13, for the Queensland under-age side.

He also represented the Australian U19 side, and scored one century and two half-centuries at the 1998 Under-19 World Cup.

He has represented the following teams - Brisbane Heat, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors, and Queensland.

Debut

James Hopes international debut came on 17 February 2005 in a T20 match between Australia and New Zealand. He picked up one wicket, going for 23 runs in 3 overs.

His ODI debut came on 1 March 2005, in the same tour of New Zealand. He impressed with his economy skills as he went for only 38 runs in his ten overs, picking up one wicket in the process.

He has represented Australia only in ODI and T20s.

Rise to Glory

James Hopes career started to look up on the brighter side when he played eight ODIs in 2004-05. His bowling skills were not up to the mark, but his batting looked aggressive and he notched up a few good knocks, including 43 against Sri Lanka.

After this series, he was dropped against South Africa, and later made a re-entry in to the team almost three years later in 2007-08. He played 24 ODIs during this period and experienced a very busy campaign. He was a part of all Australian series during this period and was a consistent player for them.

In 2009, Hopes scored his maiden half-century, scoring 63 from 80 balls against India. His performance went in vain as India beat Australia in that game and went on to win the series.

In 2010, Hopes made his career-best performance as a bowler at Dublin against Ireland. He picked up five wickets for just 14 runs and ensured that Australia did not lose to the dark horses.

He scored a feisty 57 from just 26 balls against West Indies and is the best out of his three half-centuries. He scored a total of 501 runs and picked up 27 wickets in 31 matches.

Club Career

James Hopes’ first-class career began in 2001, Queensland Bulls. He is the Bulls’ leading wicket-taker in one-day competition.

He has five Pura Cup centuries under his belt and also two one-day hundreds. As a bowler, he picked up 15 wickets in the ING Cup and 16 wickets at the Pura Cup.

Hopes made his Indian Premier League entry when Kings XI Punjab signed him for $200,000. He impressed in his first season and stayed out of the next two seasons due to injury.

In 2011, he signed for the Delhi Daredevils and for the Pune Warriors the next season.

Retirement

James Hopes retired completely from cricketing after his Queensland's Domestic Season of 2016-17.