Thanks very much, Mark. It is a real thrill for me to be here again – my second year as the patron, if you like, of the Prime Minister's XI – and all I can say is may we do better this year than we did last year. May we try to emulate the performance of Australia on this oval last night. May we try to emulate that come January in the Prime Minister's XI game.
Prime Minister Modi of India and I enthusiastically agreed that the one thing that we had most in common as countries was our passion for beating England at cricket and I say that with appropriate respect to the UK High Commissioner, Paul Madden, who is with us this morning. I just hope that we can be more effective in 2015 as a Prime Minister’s XI than we were in 2014.
I’m pleased to see my principal adviser in cricket, Cate McGregor, down there in the front row, because, Cate, we have to do better this year than last year.
They say that in cricket you always have two people to blame – the umpire and the selector. So, you know who I am looking at for the result this year and a better result coming up!
But, look, it is important that we maintain the traditions and this tradition has now been running since the 1950s. There was a hiatus from 1965 to 1984, but it's now been running for 30-odd years and it's a great tradition and it's certainly one that I intend to continue.
I am delighted that Mike Hussey has agreed to be the captain of the Prime Minister's XI. Mike Hussey has been an adornment to the game, a relative late comer to Test Cricket, but an absolute stalwart of the Australian side for seven or eight seasons, one of the gentlemen of the game and I think a tremendous influence on young players and that is what this game is about: trying to ensure that some of our younger stars get blooded and get an outing in full view of the cricketing public and, hopefully, we will have a good result come January.
I am also delighted Tony Dell's Stand Tall for PTS charity is the beneficiary of this game, because we all want to do the right thing by those who have done the right thing by our country and no-one does the right thing by our country more than our service personnel, particularly those who see frontline service. Many of them carry the unseen scars of war and we need to acknowledge that and we need to treat them as well as we can and that's what Tony Dell has dedicated much of his recent life to.
So, Tony, thank you for what you have done and I am delighted that your charity will be the beneficiary of this game.
Ladies and gentlemen, cricket is in many respects our national game and let's hope we have a great summer of cricket.
This is going to be a particularly splendid summer for cricket lovers with so many great teams here in Australia for the World Cup and let's hope that the Prime Minister's XI will be by no means the least of the great games coming up.
Thank you everyone for giving me the opportunity once more to be associated with this splendid game.
[ends]