James Hopes, an Australian cricketer, was born on October 24, 1978 in Townsville, Queensland. James Hopes aspires to complete an International Sports Law course at Griffith University. Nicknamed “Catfish”, “Hopesy” and “Jimbo”, he is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler.
James Hopes starred as a prominent player at the 1998 Youth World Cup and won the Australia A and Prime Ministers XI selection in 2004-05 before scaling to play his first One Day International (ODI) on March 1, 2005 against New Zealand. He played eight matches for Australia during the 2005-06 season, during which he featured at the 2005-06 VB Series and scored 43 in a match against Sri Lanka. James Hopes also received a call-up for the tour of Bangladesh in early 2006 and in the third match of the series, he took 1-8, which were his best bowling figures.
At the 2007-08 Commonwealth Bank Series, James Hopes played a vital role by opening the first two games and on March 4, 2008, he had a major breakthrough in his career in the second final match he gave away just 20 runs in six overs, which was undoubtedly the most economical bowling of the match. In the same match, he scored his first ODI half century, which came as 63 runs off 80 balls against India. James Hopes participated in all the seven matches at the one day series in India. He also played for the Australia A team that toured Pakistan in September 2005 and in the first game, he scored 55 runs off 47 balls. He has played 36 ODIs, scoring 499 runs, and has also taken 27 wickets. He played his first Twenty 20 International (T20I) on February 17, 2005 against New Zealand. As of 2008, he has played four T20Is, scoring 17 runs and has taken four wickets.
During the 2003-04 season, James Hopes set up a 236-run partnership with Martin Love, a teammate, in a match against Victoria, which became the state's fifth-wicket partnership record. During the 2004-05season, he hit a half-century off just 33 balls in a match against Tasmania, and became the fifth Queenslander to hit a fastest 50. James Hopes won the Bulls domestic one day Player of the Year and also won the Ian Healy Trophy for the Bulls No.1 player in 2004-05.
During the 2005-06 season, James Hopes won the state's ING Cup Player of the Year award and the Bulls domestic one day Player of the Year, following which he won the Bulls' Fielding Award in 2006-07. He is one of five Bulls in the ACA's Ford Ranger Cup Team of the Year, and took 20 wickets, which was four more than his nearest rival and also scored 303 runs.
During the 2006-07season, James Hopes won the Man of the Match award twice, once for his maiden one-day century against New South Wales and another for scoring runs and taking wickets against Western Australia. At the Pura Cup, he scored three half-centuries and a remarkable 122 against Hobart and also scalped 21 wickets, contributing to the Bulls victory in Adelaide. At the end of the season, James Hopes had scored 533 runs and was the third leading run-scorer, behind Clinton Perren and Jimmy Maher.
In the next season, James Hopes played only four off the ten games for the Bulls, maintaining a batting average of 71.66. He also chipped in with nine wickets at a rate of 18.33 and went on to win the State's Ford Ranger Cup Player of the Year, 2007-08. He played three First-class games that season, and maintained an average strike rate of 40.66, which included 80s in each innings of the match in Hobart. James Hopes is the Bulls' all-time leading wicket-taker in one-day cricket having taken 110 wickets from 68 games and has also scored five centuries at the Pura Cup.
James Hopes was purchased for $ 300,000 by the Kings XI Punjab team to play at the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL). He featured in 11 matches, scoring 221 runs, his best being 71 against Chennai.
