courageous
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courage
LEGEND LEADS WITH Words Kim Nielsen-Creeley
Launceston Grammar alumnus (1978), David Boon MBE has sustained a life-long career in the world of international cricket. Debuting as a 17-year-old playing First Class Cricket for Tasmania in 1978/79 and rising to become Australia’s top batsman in the early 1990s, David made 21 Test centuries, was voted Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1993 and became an Australian Selector with Cricket Australia.
Among many career highlights was his role in four Ashes series wins; his unbeaten 184 in the Bicentenary Test of 1988; and his Man-of-the-Match winning effort in the 1987 World Cup final. Primarily in the number 3 position, his resilience was an essential ingredient in Australia’s revival as a cricketing power in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said of David’s retirement, ‘When the team was up against it, we came to count on you to fight with skill and courage. Cricket fans around the world will miss the great character and talent that you brought to the game’. Since 1999, David has worked with Cricket Tasmania and from 2011, the international governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the Elite Panel of ICC Referees. David is an advocate against illegal gambling, through the ICC's involvement with the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. He says, ‘It’s a battle at times, the way the game is viewed by the public, and people must be assured they are watching the real thing’.
