Leyland Sanders

Leyland Arthur "Ley" Sanders (17 October 1927 - 3 January 2005) was an Australian sportsman who represented Queensland in both Australian rules football and Sheffield Shield cricket.

Sanders had a quick rise in Queensland football, becoming a regular interstate player after his first representative match in 1946. Although mainly a backman, Sanders was often used with success as a forward. He was club captain of Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL) club Yeronga and then of Coorparoo-Yeronga, a merged outfit which competed in the 1953 and 1954 seasons. He was voted the Best and Fairest QANFL player in 1954.^[1]

He started his cricket career as a wicket-keeper and had been a promising junior cricketer, captaining the Queensland Colts in 1949 and 1950.^[2] With Queenslander Don Tallon keeping wicket for Australia and future Test player Wally Grout the new state gloveman, Sanders was at best the third choice wicket-keeper for Queensland. As a result he gave up the glovework and tried to get state selection as a specialist batsman.^[3]

It was as an opening batsman that Sanders was most often used by Queensland. He made his first-class cricket debut in the 1950/51 Shield season and was never able to become a regular fixture in the side, instead he was used more as a reserve batsman for Queensland, who filled a spot when a player was injured.^[4] His best effort with the bat came in the 1951/52 season, against Victoria, when he opened the batting and made 49. He missed out on his half century when he edged a ball from John Cordner to the keeper.^[5] After an absence of two years, Sanders played his 10th and final first-class match when he was called up as a middle order batsman for a Shield fixture against New South Wales. He suffered the indignity of scoring a pair and his dismissal in the second innings put debutant spinner John Treanor on a hattrick, which he completed with the wicket of Peter Burge.^[6]

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