Stuart Law today announced he was standing down as captain of the XXXX Queensland Bulls in the wake of last week's historic Pura Cup championship.

Law, 33, told a media conference at Queensland Cricket Headquarters that the decision to relinquish the captaincy was largely due to family reasons.

"I can't give the time to the game as I have done in the past," he said today. "I've been thinking long and hard about this for 12 to 18 months and with my wife Deb and I having a little boy, I think it's time for me to step aside and let someone else take over"

Law said he intended to continue playing for Queensland and hoped he could fill a similar role to that played by Allan Border after he retired from international cricket when he played a further two seasons with the Bulls in 1994-95 and 1995-96.

"Allan taught me and all of the players an enormous amount in that period. He was coming off an exceptional international career, and that is something I won't bring to the team, but I think I have played enough cricket to help out as a senior player in the squad."

"It's no secret that my form hasn't been the best this season but I believe that standing down from the captaincy will give me an added lease of life for the next few seasons and allow me to continue enjoying cricket without the additional pressures and responsibility of the captaincy."

"It was not an easy decision but it I know that it is the right decision to make for the team and Queensland Cricket. The new captain will have the chance to forge a relationship with the new coach, as I did with Bennett King, and put his energies into continuing Queensland's run of success. We are very fortunate to have an exceptional group of senior players in the squad who bring a lot to the team and like them, I will be right behind whoever is appointed."

Law met with King on Thursday to broach the subject and elected to make his decision public today before departing tomorrow morning for England with wife Debbie and 12-week-old son Max.

Law will commence the first year of a two-year contract with Lancashire following a long and successful career with Essex.

Law has been in charge of Queensland's five domestic first class championship teams in the past eight years, including the Bulls' hat-trick of Pura Cup titles, and two one-day championships.

He has captained Queensland on 69 occasions, with 38 wins, 10 losses and 21 draws, to be Queensland's most successful captain of all-time.

Queensland Cricket Chairman Damien Mullins said the process to appoint a new captain would not begin until the ACB contacted player list was finalised.

"Once the national list is completed, the Queensland selectors will finalise the Bulls squad for 2002-2003 and make a recommendation to the Board on the captain," he said.

"The Board will discuss the appointment and make whatever recommendations it feels necessary before the new captain is announced," Mullins said.

"It would not be appropriate to speculate on who the new captain would be at this point. Queensland Cricket has been very fortunate to have a leader such as Stuart to call upon in the past eight or nine seasons and his exceptional leadership qualities have been clearly demonstrated by his announcement today to step aside," he said.

While Law was injured during the season, Jimmy Maher and Martin Love both led the Bulls to victories in the ING Cup and Pura Cup competitions while Matthew Hayden has also successfully captained the Bulls in the past.

© 2002 Queensland Cricket