A slow start to the year and limited opportunities meant prolific Grade runscorer Aaron Nye made just the three one-day appearances for Queensland in 2008-09.

Nye was unable to add to his eight first class matches after having played half of those in 2007-08.

With Martin Love and Lee Carseldine in good touch early and Andrew Symonds in the team for most of the year due to personal issues, it meant Nye was going to have to score big runs to prise open a berth.

A second innings 84 for Wests against Toombul in September 2008 was his only significant innings until he made an impressive 108 against Redlands in late November, but he managed just 31 and 0 against Victoria for the QAS 2nd XI at Allan Border Field the next week.

That came after he produced 11 and 25 for the QAS against SA in Adelaide at the start of November.

A key member of Queensland's victorious one-day side in 2006-07, Nye played his first Ford Ranger Cup game of 2008-09 against NSW in Sydney in mid-November, where he made 19 off 47 balls and took 0-13 off two overs with his off-spin.

He missed out on a bat in rain-affected home game against SA a fortnight later, and played his last game in Hobart before Christmas where he made two batting at the death.

Nye had threatened a breakout innings to cement a place in the Bulls' Shield team in 2007-08, but it never quite eventuated.

A prolific runscorer at XXXX GOLD Grade level, Nye certainly looked to have the capabilities of being a solid top to middle order batsman for the State.

His four Shield games in 2007-08 were his first in the first class arena for three years,  and he finished with 204 runs at 29.14 with a top score of 61.

Nye batted beautifully for 46 in the opening Shield match of the season against Tasmania, only to hole out to spinner Dan Marsh.

His next opportunity came a month later against Victoria at the Gabba, where his first innings 57 rescued the Bulls in a 98-run stand for the sixth wicket with Ashley Noffke.

He again had to wait another month until just before Christmas, when he top scored with 61 in the first innings against a NSW attack of Stuart Clark, Doug Bollinger and Matthew Nicholson.

In fact, the only match in which he failed to pass 45 was the final game against Victoria on a difficult MCG pitch, where he managed 20 in the first innings but scored a first ball duck in the second.

His one-day form was excellent to start the 2007-08 season, hitting 43 in the rain in Sydney and a second top score of 31 on a tough WACA pitch.

His 39, 1-29 and fielding earned him the man of the match award award Victoria in the Bulls' fourth game in November, although his form waned after that.

Nye scored a matchwinning second innings century in the XXXX GOLD Grade cricket final, piloting Wests to their second championship in four years. He finished with 633 runs at an average of 90.43 for the season.

Nye could have easily kicked over the stumps and taken his bat home for good at the end of the 2005-06 season.

Turning 28, he had just lost his Bulls contract, despite trying desperately hard to carve out a place for himself in the State side. He had some knockers around him suggesting he should start to focus more on other areas of his life.

Instead, he put his head down and blasted 804 runs at 57, including three centuries, in Grade Cricket to win his second Peter Burge Medal. With it came a new Bulls contract after playing a significant part in the State's 2006-07 one day title win.

He had worked closely with his club coach at Wests, Peter Cameron, on the standout factors of his game. The duo also worked through the features of his batting from when he last won the Burge Medal with a huge 900-run haul in 2002-03 the most runs since 1944-45.

His glut of runs post-Christmas of 2006 earned Nye a place in the Bulls line-up for their penultimate One Day game of the season against SA, and then received a call-up for the final when the international players were ruled out due to World Cup commitments.

Nye didn't let the opportunity slip, bagging 3-55 off 10 overs including the key wickets of Victorian matchwinners Cameron White, David Hussey and Adam Crossthwaite. He also helped the final flourish with the bat, hitting 11 off 12 balls.

It was Nye's first appearance in the one-day interstate arena since 2004-05, where he rattled up a quickfire 28 not out off 22 balls in the losing final to Tasmania, but didn't get a bowl.

He had burst onto the scene with 102 against New South Wales in his 2003-04 debut, which coincided with the final first class games of Steve and Mark Waugh. But he was unable to hold a permanent spot, and played two more matches in 2004-05 until his recall in 2007-08.

Nye lost 7kg during the 2007 winter to prepare himself as well as possible for 2007-08.

A more than competent golfer, he is a close friend of international star Adam Scott and has caddied for him in the past.