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Swing bowler Chadd Sayers is on record-breaking pace, beanpole quick Simon Mackin is unstoppable, wicketkeeper Peter Nevill is reminding the Test selectors of his talent, and all-rounder Moises Henriques is on fire.
These are among the stories to emerge from the Sheffield Shield since it re-started in the past fortnight.
Simon Mackin – the other towering young quick
Giant Queensland paceman Billy Stanlake has garnered plenty of attention and praise this summer, earning his ODI debut and being touted as a future Test bowler by many pundits and fans.
Meanwhile, another freakishly tall and expansively talented seamer has flown under the radar.
Standing 202 centimetres, the West Australian fast bowler is enjoying an incredible Shield campaign. The 24-year-old has taken four five-wicket hauls from just five matches, amid his return of 33 wickets at 20.
He has particularly enjoyed bowling with the English Dukes ball, which is being used in the second half of the Shield season. Since the Dukes was introduced, Mackin has taken 17 wickets from two games.
While Mackin does not have the same intimidating pace as Stanlake, who can reach 150kmh, he is impressively accurate. Similar in style to Test star Josh Hazlewood, Mackin hits a good length on or slightly outside off over and over, earning just enough movement to undo batsmen.
Sayers can break Shield wickets record
With 45 wickets from seven matches, South Australian swing merchant Sayers is within reach of breaking the record for the most wickets in a Shield season, currently held by Colin Miller (67 wickets).
If Sayers maintains his average of 6.5 wickets per match he will end the regular season on 64 wickets. But South Australia are well placed to make the Shield final, which would give Sayers an all-important extra match.
Sayers has been the most consistently effective paceman in the Shield for the past four years but is yet to earn a Test debut. If he can finish this season in strong fashion it will ensure he is in contention for next summer’s Ashes.
Nevill running amok
Nobody in the Shield has scored as many tons this summer as former Test gloveman Nevill, who has three centuries amid a haul of 501 runs at an average of 72.
His latest ton, 143* over the weekend against Queensland, followed a knock of 118 in his previous innings, against Victoria.
Since being ditched from the Australian line-up for Matt Wade, Nevill has shown tremendous will and resilience. He has refused to let the dumping distract him and instead he’s focused on dominating the Shield to such an extent Wade is now under heavy pressure to perform in India or face losing his spot.
Henriques is in career-best form
Among the top-ten runscorers in the competition, the only two averaging higher than 56 are Nevill (72) and Henriques (558 runs at 70).
The NSW all-rounder never before had scored more than 400 runs in a Shield season, so he is enjoying by far the most prolific campaign of his career. It reached a high point on the weekend when he hammered a monster 265 from just 327 balls against Queensland.
Henriques earned a surprise Test recall last August in Sri Lanka but had zero impact, making four in both innings of his solitary match and bowling only two overs.
Jon Holland has reached his peak as a spinner
Holland has taken 65 wickets at 20 from his past 12 Shield matches. Those are extraordinary figures for a finger spinner in Australian first-class cricket.
This season he has 38 wickets. To highlight just how impressive that is, consider that only one other spinner has taken more than 16 wickets in the Shield this summer – NSW offie Will Somerville (24).
Holland was unlucky to miss out on the Test tour of India, having filled in for the injured Steve O’Keefe in Sri Lanka last year. The selectors instead chose leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and left-arm spinning all-rounder Ashton Agar.
Neither of those players was likely considered a better Test spin option than Holland. Instead, Swepson was picked because he offered variety to the squad, and Agar with a view to potentially batting at seven and being the fifth bowler.
Chris Hartley keeps shining
Hartley has averaged 49 with the bat across the past three seasons. He’s also the best gloveman in the country, ahead of Nevill.
Yet, at 34 years old, his hopes of playing Test cricket seem distant – it’s likely that at least two of Wade, Nevill and Sam Whiteman would need to be injured at the same time to pave the way for Hartley.
Meanwhile, he’s been Queensland’s most valuable Shield player for the past four or five years. Hartley has been clearly the Bulls best this summer.
His keeping has been sharp and he’s been immensely valuable with the bat, making 460 runs at 92, including several crucial knocks.