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Australia’s batting stocks suddenly don’t look so dire thanks to fairer pitches in the Sheffield Shield this season.
Aussie pundits and fans have for the past few years bemoaned the lack of players wielding their blade with success in the domestic four-day competition.
Where once State batsmen averaging 50-plus season after season couldn’t squeeze into the Test line-up, inferior players with career first-class averages around 40 were now being handed baggy greens.
But how large a role did the lively Shield pitches of the past few summers contribute to the paltry returns from our batting prospects?
There has been a considerable shift in the state of Shield decks this season.
All of the surfaces have appeared to offer less assistance to the pacemen in particular.
However, aside from Adelaide Oval, which has a sleepy new drop-in pitch, the venues have not served up lifeless bowler-killing wickets.
Instead, conditions have more closely resembled those prevalent in Test cricket, where grass-laced decks are rare.
Fast bowlers have been required to earn their wickets rather than relying on responsive surfaces to undo the batsmen.
Spin bowlers have become more relevant thanks to the drier pitches.
Meanwhile, batsmen who graft to survive the early stages of their innings are rewarded with conditions suitable for runscoring once set.
As a result we have a more accurate picture of which State players may be prepared for Test cricket.
To properly comprehend the shift in batting fortune prompted by the sporting pitches it is necessary to examine the statistics.
Of the 20 highest Shield runscorers this season, 14 were averaging 45 or higher at the time I wrote this piece yesterday.
Of the 20 leading Shield runscorers last summer, only four averaged 45 or better.
There also has been a marked increase in the number of triple-figure scores being posted by batsmen.
Up to yesterday, 23 hundreds had been notched in the first half of the Shield campaign.
Compare that to last summer when there were only 32 tons registered in the entire season.
At the risk of overloading you with statistics, I will also point out that already this summer 18 different batsmen have scored Shield centuries compared to 24 in all of last season.
Among those century-makers are young bucks like Jordan Silk (21), Chris Lynn (23) and Ryan Carters (23), while Travis Head (19), Nic Maddinson (21) and Sam Whiteman (21) are also in the top runscorers.
Much has been written about Tasmania’s obdurate opener Silk, whose two centuries this season mean he remarkably has four tons from his first eight Shield games.
Queenslander Lynn has had an even more impressive summer on the comeback trail from a terribly disappointing 2012-13 season.
Lynn’s five first-class matches have seen him reap 467 runs at 78 including a brilliant double of 104 and 61 not out against the touring England side in Perth.
Carters has been the shock performer of the summer so far after leaving Victoria for New South Wales in the off season.
The ‘keeper-batsman had managed only 11 matches in three seasons with the Bushrangers while at times stuck behind the likes of Matthew Wade and Peter Handscomb.
He has shed the gloves and been reinvented as a top order batsman with startling results.
Carters has racked up 543 runs at 78 in just four first-class outings.
Like Lynn he exhibited a capacity for taming international bowlers by registering 94 and 40 against England for the Cricket Australia Invitational XI three weeks ago.
Over in South Australia Head’s form will have the Australian selectors salivating.
Not often does a player adapt so well to first-class cricket at such a tender age.
His 453 Shield runs at 50 placed him fourth on the Shield runscorers list yesterday.
Similar to Carters, Head has been forced to shelve his ‘keeping and concentrate on his batting.
Whiteman though is churning out runs to complement his tidy glovework.
The highly-rated West Australian has scored more runs than any other Shield ‘keeper this summer, with 365 at 61.
Meanwhile, perhaps the most-hyped young batsman in the country, Nic Maddinson, has displayed a much-improved balance between attack and defence in his matches for NSW.
Since June, the belligerent left-hander has churned out 907 runs at 57 in nine first-class games for the Blues and Australia A.
His talent is undoubted and he is now showing signs of maturity.
Maybe Australia isn’t bereft of young batting talent after all?