Photo Credit: Queensland Cricket
Former Queensland and Australian pace bowler Kirsten Pike has become the first woman to be appointed as Chair of Queensland Cricket.
Her trail-blazing appointment was confirmed by the Board of Directors following last night’s Annual General Meeting at Allan Border Field where outgoing Chair Chris Simpson was farewelled.
She will be 18th Chair of QC since the role was originally created in 1897.
A Deputy Chair will be appointed by the Board in due course.
Pike, who joined the Board in 2017, is a partner at Thomson Geer Lawyers after completing her legal studies during her playing career with the Queensland Fire and Australian Women’s team.
A right-arm pace bowler, the Sunshine Coast product played 86 matches for Queensland, retiring following the 2013–14 season after helping to win the team’s first Twenty20 title.
She played one Test for Australia as well as 26 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals.
Pike, who has been Deputy Chair since 2019, led a vote of thanks to Simpson who stood down as Chair and as QC Director after informing members of his decision to leave the Board earlier in the year.
Simpson, a former Queensland captain, joined the Board in 2017 and took on the role of Chair in 2019.
Pike thanked him for his dedication to Queensland Cricket.
“Since coming onto the Board in 2017, you have fought hard for Queensland Cricket,’’ she said.
“The game in the State is in a good place, due largely to your leadership and vision. The Board and staff will continue to build on the legacy of your efforts in the coming years,’’ Pike said.
Simpson, Barry Jansen and appointed Director Juanita Maiden all concluded their terms on the Board, with Mackay-based Jansen retiring after more than a decade as a Board director.
The new elected Board members were former Queensland Fire and WBBL Brisbane Heat championship captain Kirby Short, and long-serving Valley District Cricket Club administrator and volunteer Grant Mitchell.
Bronwyn Atkinson, who has extensive experience in the aerospace industry in Australia, was announced as a new appointed Director.
The AGM was informed that Queensland Cricket had again been able to return a modest surplus for the year.
Members were told there was a surplus of $863,000 in FY23, which included a non-cash $246,000 positive gain in the QC Future Fund.
The meeting was told that the operating surplus of $617,000 would be reinvested in the game, with $500,000 into the QC Future Fund and take-up of $117,000 in regular operations.
The surplus was driven by a return to full 100% funding from Cricket Australia which was confirmed in June 2023.
Chair Chris Simpson and CEO Terry Svenson highlighted the on-going investment in infrastructure around the State as an organisational highlight for 2022-23, acknowledging the contributions from government at all levels as well as the Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund.
The ACIF is a joint initiative between Cricket Australia, Queensland Cricket and the Australian Cricketers’ Association’s Grassroots Cricket Fund.
More than $1.12 million was contributed from the ACIF to 80 projects, with half of those located in regional areas. This ACIF investment enabled over $8 million worth of work to be completed.
Test legend and QC Director Ian Healy welcomed former Queensland and Australian player Jimmy Maher as the most recent addition to the list of Queensland Cricket Life Members list.
Maher, who was one of the founders of the Bulls Masters organisation after a decorated playing career, was recently acknowledged for his commitment to growing the game with the presentation of the inaugural Pike-Maher Medal.
The Medal is presented annually to a Queensland male or female cricketer who plays a major role in creating a positive difference in Queensland’s communities through charitable and community contributions.
Maher has dedicated much of his life to cricket.
The Far North Queensland product made his initial appearance for Queensland as a teenager in a one-day game.
He made his first-class debut against South Australia in 1993-1994, and retired in 2008, playing his last game also against South Australia.
Maher amassed 9,993 first class runs for Queensland – behind only long-time teammate Martin Love.
He remains Queensland’s all-time leading one-day runs-scorer with 4789 runs.
Maher led Queensland to the 2005-2006 Pura Cup title with a man-of- the-match knock of 223.
He was also part of Queensland’s famous breakthrough Sheffield Shield win in 1994-1995, as well as playing in the 1996-97 Shield triumph and the hat-trick of Pura Cup titles between 1999 and 2002.
Maher played 26 one-day internationals for Australia, averaging 25.76, and was part of the 2003 World Cup championship squad as well as touring with Australia to the West Indies and India.
He is a member of The Hundred club, one of 16 players to have registered 100 first class career matches for Queensland.
Maher, 49, remains an active player with Northern Suburbs in the Queensland Premier Cricket competition.
