Brendan Nash

Brendan Paul Nash (born 14 December 1977) is a Jamaican Australian former professional cricketer who played Test and One Day International cricket for West Indies.

He played first-class cricket for Jamaica, Queensland and Kent.

Brendan Nash was born in Attadale, Western Australia.

He lived in Perth, Cairns and Brisbane and studied at Nudgee College in 1993–94.

Brendan Nash qualified to play for Jamaica through his father, Paul, a Jamaican Olympic swimmer.

Nash played grade cricket in Brisbane, and was leading run scorer in the 1999–2000 Brisbane XXXX competition.

Before breaking into the senior side, Nash represented Queensland at under-19 level as well as playing for the Queensland Colts and Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS).

On one occasion, Nash was pressed into service as a makeshift wicket-keeper for QAS when the first choice keeper was injured with a suspected broken thumb.

Nash made his debut for the Queensland Bulls in 2001 when he came into the side as cover for injured batsman Martin Love.

In the 2001/02 Pura Cup final, Nash scored 96 against the Tasmanian Tigers as Queensland won the cup.

He achieved a cult following with a "Brendan Nash Fan Club" founded among university students in Brisbane.

He scored his maiden first-class century in 2002 when he batted at number four and scored 157 as Queensland defeated the Southern Redbacks at the Adelaide Oval.

Nash was promoted to open for Queensland and cemented his place there.

At the start of the 2002–03 season, Nash scored 176 and 81 not out against the New South Wales Blues.

However, his form slipped away and he did not reach 40 in his next 20 innings.

He struggled to hold down a place in the Queensland second XI.

He was denied a contract with the Queensland Bulls for the 2004–05 season as a result of his poor run of form.

After not being given a contract with the Queensland Bulls for the 2007–08 season, Nash decided to try to restart his career by moving to the West Indies.

Speaking of his decision, he said "I was obviously very disappointed to miss out on a contract, but I pretty much got told it would be hard for me to work my way back in again and I felt I still have something to offer".

In October 2007, Nash was named in the Jamaican squad.

Nash played a key role in Jamaica winning the KFC Cup.

In the final, he scored 117 as his team beat Trinidad and Tobago by nine wickets.

Nash finished the season with 422 first-class runs at 46.88 to his name from the domestic competition and was third in the batting averages.

There was surprise in some quarters when Nash was not selected for the Test series against Australia in 2008.

Having identified his limited-over batting as an area he wanted to improve on (he scored only 67 runs in five matches) he decided to play for Monton & Weaste CC in the Central Lancashire League (CLL) during the Caribbean's off-season (summer 2008 in England).

His role as the club's professional cricketer helped him financially to play in Jamaica.

During his stint in England, Nash played a major part in Monton & Weaste CC defeating Heywood CC in the CLL Wood Cup final on 3 August 2008.

Nash was named man of the match for scoring scored 46 not out as Monton & Weaste won by seven wickets.

In 2009, Brendan Nash joined East Lancs in the Lancashire League as professional when their original professional did not arrive.

He had a superb first season scoring 874 runs in 16 league innings at an average of 72.83 with a high score of 140 and taking 47 wickets at an average of 12.25 from 221.4 overs with best bowling figures of 7/21.

In the 20/20 competition he averaged a staggering 257 scoring 257 runs in 4 games and only being out once with a high score of 109 not out.

He also took 10 wickets in 14.3 overs at an average of 7.8 with best bowling figures of 3/1.

During the semi-final of the 2010/11 Regional Four Day Competition, Nash scored his highest first-class score.

The innings of 207 runs came from 349 balls, and bettered his previous best of 176 runs.

Though the semi-final against Trinidad and Tobago ended in a draw, Jamaica faced Combined Campuses and Colleges in the final.

Nash was unable to bat for Jamaica due to injury, but the side went on to win the match by eight wickets.

In 2012, Nash, having been dropped from the West Indies national side, signed for Kent, for the 2012 English county cricket season.

He stayed on for the 2013 season as well.

On 13 July 2013, Nash guided Kent to an unlikely County Championship win against Gloucestershire, needing a huge total of 411 to win, Nash scored 199 not out, before having to retire due to sunstroke after playing in temperatures of 30C.

The tail then got the remaining 21 runs needed and Kent won their first game of the season.