The Herd of Thunder (often called H.O.T.) is the name for the athletic bands of the University of South Florida, which includes the show band, pep band, and marching band ensembles, although it is often used to refer simply to the Marching Band. The Herd of Thunder was founded in 1999, two years after USF fielded its first football team
Sent in to bat by Tasmania on a raging greentop, the Bulls collapsed to 5-39 and 8-91 and it looked like a case of history repeating from their woeful 2007-08 season.
But new coach Trevor Barsby has spent the off-season drumming a never-say-die attitude into this crop of Bulls.
Swing bowler Chris Swan (76 not out) and sometimes-maligned wicketkeeper Chris Hartley (55) inspired Queensland's fightback with a record ninth-wicket partnership of 135.
Considering Swan was no certainty even to make the side for the Sheffield Shield season opener it was an unexpected but wonderful Bulls comeback.
Barsby is desperate for Queensland to regain lost respect from its interstate rivals and he was delighted when the Bulls managed to muster 236 in nightmarish batting conditions.
They insisted they knew. Even when they were losing 35-point leads at home to bad teams, even when they were in a three game stretch of losing by 32 at home, then to the 1-19 Nets at home and then by 35 on the road. Even when their coach supposedly was being fired any day now and there were injuries and they couldn’t score 100 points and fans were demanding just about everyone be traded. At least Joakim Noah said the Bulls knew.
“Last month it was almost like a disaster,” Noah was saying matter-of-factly after still another impressive Bulls road victory, 96-86 over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “In just a matter of a month. It’s all about confidence. When you can’t win games because you aren’t talented enough that’s one thing. That’s what was so frustrating about the whole thing. We were better than that. We’re showing that now.”
On a first-day Gabba pitch freshened by rain, those runs were worth many more.
It looked even better when Tasmania fell to 1-5 before bad light stopped play.
The stand between Swan and Hartley started as a backs-to-the-wall fight but quickly became a debonair hit-out as both batsmen took on the frustrated Tasmanian bowlers.
Swan, who hit his maiden first-class half century, was brutal on anything remotely short, which he dispatched with his favourite pull shot. It was an amazing turnaround considering wickets fell like ninepins early in the day, with conditions perf
