Your Excellency, Governor-General and Mrs Jeffery, other very distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. This is the great cricketing day for Canberra. The turnout I';m told is the best ever that we';ve had at Manuka Oval, and it';s a huge tribute to a number of people and to a number of things.
It';s a great tribute of course to the fact that we have had a wonderful season of cricket against our Indian guests. It really has been. And can I say on behalf of all Australians how much we admire the spirit and skill with which the Indian team has played the game. They have been a great credit to their country, both in their professionalism and in their demeanour. And for those of us, it includes everybody in this room, who loves cricket, to see the strength and vibrancy of the game in India and to know that there will be that great contest between India and Pakistan coming up in the very near future, I think it';s a wonderful thing for the future of the game, and to you Sourav and to all of your colleagues, thank you for being such wonderful players and wonderful guests, and the spirit in which you have played the game. Australians admire the contribution that you have made.
This is also of course an occasion where we welcome some of the greats of the past, and as well as the four irascible Invincibles that have been welcomed, can I also acknowledge in particular the presence of two other greats of the game who have given so much in Bob Simpson and Brian Booth, and I understand David Boon was lurking around somewhere, but not necessarily in this room – but if he is, I acknowledge him as well. It';s always great on occasions like this to welcome great players from the past. To our sponsor and particularly the Canberra Investment Corporation and Ron Brieley, thank you for your generosity and your support, and to so many other sponsors that have made today possible.
And finally can I say that the match does have a special resonance because Steve Waugh accepted my invitation to captain the team and he has brought together under his captaincy a team that I think fielded magnificently this morning, and I don';t think I have seen a finer catch than the one we witnessed, and full marks to the local boy for that. So to everyone who has made it such a wonderful day for Canberra, and it is important that there be a special day and a special match and a special event for Canberra.
But Steve, thank you for captaining the team. I';m now going to invite you to come up to the stage and then I will invite Sourav shortly thereafter. But as you know, Steve was chosen as Australian of the Year for 2004 and he couldn';t, for a reason that every single person in this room understands, he couldn';t physically be present to receive the award because he was playing cricket for New South Wales in Perth, and that is the one excuse that Australian of the Years have – the only one that you can possibly have. So I thought it would be nice if the award that I would have presented to him, the trophy, that I would have presented to him on Monday night, if I could have the opportunity of presenting it to him and again congratulating him on the great honour of being Australian of the Year for 2004. I think it';s rather nice that he ends up receiving it at a cricket function. It really is very appropriate.
Well could I now ask Sourav Ganguly to come forward, and I';d like to make a small presentation to each of the captains. To you Sourav, thank you very much again for what you have done for the game in the time you';ve spent here over the past few months. And to Steve, thank you very, very much. And I understand that Mark, whose birthday it is today – happy birthday to the Chief Executive of the ACT Cricket Association – I understand Mark is now going to conduct a little dialogue with you.
But thank you very much for coming along. Again, it has been a great day, and may there be many more of them.
[ends]