Brad Hodge

Brad Hodge

Personal information
Full name	Bradley John Hodge
Nickname	Dodgeball
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting	Right-hand
Bowling	Right-arm off spin
Role	Specialist middle-order batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 394)	17 November 2005 v West Indies
Last Test	22 May 2008 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 154)	3 December 2005 v New Zealand
Last ODI	17 October 2007 v India
ODI shirt no.	17
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2008–present	Kolkata Knight Riders
1993–present	Victoria
2005–2008	Lancashire
2003–2004	Leicestershire
2002	Durham
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 6 25 220 223 Runs scored 503 575 16,808 7,633 Batting average 55.88 30.26 48.57 40.81 100s/50s 1/2 1/3 50/63 21/35 Top score 203* 123 302* 164 Balls bowled 12 66 5,481 1,524 Wickets 0 1 74 38 Bowling average – 51.00 41.05 35.36 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 1 10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 0/8 1/17 4/17 5/28 Catches/stumpings 9/– 16/– 125/– 89/–
Source: CricketArchive, 21 March 2009

Bradley John Hodge (born 29 December 1974 in Sandringham, Victoria) is an Australian and Victorian cricketer. His high school was St. Bede's College in Mentone, Victoria. He is a right hand batsman who bats in the middle order, as well as a part time right arm off spin bowler.

First-class career

Hodge debuted for the Victorian Bushrangers as a 19-year-old and was nicknamed "Bunkie" by Dean Jones for the fact that he shared a bunkbed with his brother at the time of his debut.

Hodge played Lancashire League Cricket for Ramsbottom in 2000 and 2001 breaking the clubs batting record in 2001.

Hodge has played with County Cricket teams Durham, Lancashire and Leicestershire, where he made his highest first class score of 302*. During his time at Leicestershire he was accused of cheating by then Derbyshire captain, and now Lancashire team mate, Dominic Cork by claiming a catch although it appeared that he had stepped over the boundary rope in a Twenty20 match in June 2003 . Hodge denied the accusation .

Hodge scored many runs for Victoria and his consistency came together by the 2000-01 season where he was consistently overlooked for selection despite being one of Australia's premier domestic batsmen.

On 21 November 2007, playing for Victoria against Queensland, Hodge made his highest Pura Cup score of 286*. He and Nick Jewell had batted undefeated for the entire third day of the game, only the fourth wicketless day's play in the history of the competition.

During the match against Queensland at the MCG on 7 March 2009, he scored 261. During this innings he became the 6th batsman to pass 10,000 Sheffield Shield runs.

He also became the first to score a century in Australian domestic Twenty20, scoring 106 off 54 deliveries for Victoria against New South Wales at North Sydney, January 21, 2006.

In December 2009, Hodge announced his retirement from first class cricket to focus on the one day and Twenty20 versions of the game. Hodge finished his domestic first class career as Victoria's all time leading run scorer.

Australian career

Bat used by Brad Hodge during his double century against South Africa-on display at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

After a long time waiting for an international debut, he finally debuted for the Australian team against the West Indies in November 2005 at Bellerive Oval, Hobart during the 2005-06 Test Series, becoming the 394th player to wear the baggy green for Australia.

Hodge scored his maiden Test century for Australia against South Africa in Perth on December 19, 2005. After ending the third day on 91 not out Hodge displayed some nervousness in media interviews about reaching his century, but by the end of the innings he managed to finish with an unbeaten score of 203. This innings was criticised by some Australian fans who felt that captain Ricky Ponting declared too late in allowing Hodge to chase his double century. This criticism came after Australia did not bowl out South Africa in the 4th innings (despite having 120 overs to bowl them out), with the match ending in a draw.

Hodge later made his One-day International debut and after two initial modest scores he scored a half-century. This earned him a recall for somes games against South Africa in the VB Series, however he failed to capitalise and was dropped from the ODI side.

Despite his solid Test performances, Hodge was dropped after only 5 Tests in the team and only 3 Tests after scoring a double century for Australia's 2005/06 Test tour of South Africa. This decision was made on the back of some poor Pura Cup performances by Hodge, who averaged around 25 for the season. However, he was dropped in favour of Damien Martyn, whose Pura Cup averages for the season were even lower, and whose most recent Test series included an average of 19 in The Ashes series. Hodge had averaged 58 from his only 5 Tests in the side but in a surprise selection it was decided that Martyn would be selected based on his reputation as a prolific run scorer in past seasons for Australia.

Brad Hodge made 99 not out off 86 balls to steer Australia to victory against New Zealand on the 4th of February, 2007 when he was called into the team because Andrew Symonds had pulled out with a torn biceps.

On 18 February 2007 Brad Hodge scored 97 not out off 86 balls as he helped Australia to 4/336 off their 50 overs.

On 18 March 2007, in World Cup, Hodge scored his maiden one day century against Holland. He scored 123 off just 89 balls including 7 sixes and 8 fours in a record 4th wicket partnership with Michael Clarke.

On 24 March 2007, Hodge was dropped from the Australian ODI side starting 11 in the World Cup after making a century and being named man of the match in the sides last outing against cricketing minnows the Netherlands. Andrew Symonds, after recovering from a shoulder injury, was named as his replacement. Hodge later returned to the starting 11 when Shane Watson was injured.

He played for Australia in a Twenty20 against India on 1 February 2008.

Indian Premier League

On April 26, 2008, it was confirmed that Hodge would represent the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League for five weeks. He played 3 matches in the first edition without any success. In the second edition, he was the highest scorer for his team. He was also the most consistent player of the team.

External links

• Cricinfo
• Cricket Archive