24^th December, 2000

Real Honour to Pad up Among Cricket Greats

Getting to play a fun match of cricket with some of the greatest to have played the game was a huge buzz.

Even though a couple of them packed on a bit of weight, they are still great players. Just being out there with blokes like Ian Healy, Allan Boarder, Merv Hughes and Viv Richards was a thrill.

I'm not quite sure who won the battle between myself and Alfie Langer, it could of been a draw. He got me out twice, but I hit him for a six when he was on a hat-trick. The one thing to come out of it was how competitive some of thease guys still are.

I woke up on Friday feeling pretty sore because of the different muscles you use in cricket, but it was a small price to pay for the fun we had.

The match fitted in really well with the need to get away from tennis but still keep fit and active.

I've been playing golf and going to the beach everyday up here in Queensland as well as watching my weight and what I eat.

My brother Pete and I did some sky-diving on the sunshine coast last week. we jumped in tandem (with instructors) from 10,000 feet. It was a bit of a rush, but too scary to do again.

I'll be hading to Roachey's place after Christmas to start workfor the Colonnial Classic in Melbourne and then the Australian Open.

With the season over and and the new year only eight days away, I've come up with some awards.

BEST NEWCOMER - Marat Safin. I'm biased towards Lleyton Hewitt and would love to give it to him, but the results - seven tournaments, including the US open - say Safin.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Gustavo Kuerten. It's got to be Guga. The No 1 ranking reflects a player's year and this time it's no different, although Safin is stiff to miss out.

MATCH OF THE YEAR - Lleyton against Albert Costa in the first match of the Davis Cup Final. Lleyton produced everything you could possibly ask for in a player.

POOR SPORT OF THE YEAR - Javier Duarte, the spanish Davis cup Coach.

BEST COMEBACK FROM INJURY - Sergei Bruguera. He's back in the top 100 after struggling for three years with shoulder and leg injuries.

SLEDGE OF THE YEAR - Hernan Gumy was about to kill Nicholas Massu when Argentina played Chileand the crowd started to throw things onto the court.

MOVER OF THE YEAR FOR 2001 - Paul Kilderry - backwards.

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