James Linger
Cassandra Sedgman, Thursday, 12 March 2009
Youth Player of the Year - James Linger
Linger was by far the standout achiever at the 2008 AAA (triple-A) youth championships. As the star offensive component in Queensland's championship-winning side, Linger won the tournament's "Triple Crown" by leading all players in Batting average (.405 -"four-oh-five"), RBIs (“arr-bee-eyes" -17), and Home Runs (2) in addition to several other offensive categories.
Playing in his first Claxton Shield in early 2008, Linger had a phenomenal rookie campaign for the Queensland Rams. Only making his debut after he had concluded his u/18 duties, Linger finished the year with an astonishing .393 ("three-ninety-three")) batting average, that featured 11 hits and 12 runs scored in just 7 games played.
Following on from his outstanding summer, Linger capped things off by being named to the Australian senior team in March 2008 for the Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan. In so doing, Linger became the youngest player to represent Australia in the last decade. At 17 years 6 months and 1 day, Linger eclipsed the previous benchmark set by Chris Snelling at the 1999 intercontinental cup (17 years 11months).
