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.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Steve Rixon was also dropped and recalled to the test team 7 years later.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Haddin replaced the injured Wade for the third test on the 2013 tour of India, then was dropped to make way for Wade for the fourth test.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Republican, apparently you're now the official Devil's Advocate.
qwetzen
Guest
Sorry. I forgot that Sydney cricketers don't like the heat.
BrainsTrust
Guest
They bat quicker and then they get to bowl in 40 degree heat as a result.
BrainsTrust
Guest
NSW should have batted on, declaring at 450 is idiocy, if the wicket is flat the opposition then scores quickly and then only they can win.the only obvious solution is don;t prepare that wicket for a 4 day game. I would have gone on till 20 minutes before tea on the third day. The point would be that you want your bowlers to be at their best when the wicket deterioates . With 800 runs on board you can set ultra attacking fields . NSW did well to dismiss Queensland for 434 given they handed them the pitch when it was flat, but they then had bowled out their bowlers . YOu have to be realistic and think that your bowlers are only going to be top of their game for 5 sessions then try to bowl them out in 5 sessions.
jamesb
Guest
Hey Ronan Could you tell me a little bit more about a couple WA youngsters in Cameron Green and Josh Inglis. Green made his debut as a 17 year old and got five wickets. On twitter, I was discussing with a journo and he reckons that Green is a better prospect compared to Mitch Marsh as far as allrounders are concerned. While Inglis is a keeper/batsman who is English born. Inglis always seems to get a quick fire 40 or 50 in no time. However, which country does Inglis pledged his allegiance to?
josh
Roar Rookie
Maybe Hartley might a Manou style retirement gift with an all expenses paid trip to England and Ireland? Or anywhere... His is another name to add to the if only XI.
qwetzen
Guest
I don't know about Somerville's eligibility as he's shuttled to and fro between Oz & NZ. CI sez that he was born in NZ and has played domestics for Wellington. This is his third season for NSW. From cricket.com.au; Will Somerville played his junior cricket in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney before heading to New Zealand for university and a shot at playing a higher level of cricket. He made his First Class debut for Otago against Wellington in 2005, but returned home shortly after where he re-joined the Sydney University club. Several impressive season's in Grade cricket and the Toyota Futures League saw Somerville called into the NSW Blues team for the start of the 2014/15 Sheffield Shield season. He has since proved himself a more than handy stand-in for when Test spinners Nathan Lyon and Stephen O'Keefe are unavailable, and he and O'Keefe have been used in tandem on several occasions when conditions suit. So far Somerville has played eight First Class games and taken 20 wickets at an average of 15.14. He is also a very handy lower order batsman and even scored a First Grade century while batting at number 10 for Sydney University.
qwetzen
Guest
Hmmmm... The Art of Craptaincy Art of the Doesn't Matter Art With the Silent F Artless Art Soul
Casper
Guest
Matt Renshaw doesn't seem to have many problems getting down low in the slips and he's a tall guy. I think it's all about the soft hands, good to see one so young with an excellent catching technique. The only time I've seen him struggle is when he expected Wade to go for a regulation keeper's catch to his left and Wade's right but Wade stood like a stunned mullet which made Renshaw look bad. Alderman was a gun slips catcher and it's a good spot to rest a fast bowler.
Casper
Guest
But I do feel it qwetzen. Being from Qld, I referred to Law but there were a few others who would captain/coach the current lot and finish top of all the averages. Those shield games were definitely played for sheep stations and I heard third hand that Steve Waugh didn't like what he got from Law in those contests, using his national captaincy to hold him back where possible. Clarke did the same to Katich but they were nsw teammates so I see some credibility in conspiracy theories. Is Maggie saying Sommerville is a kiwi or is that an oblique reference I don't get? If he isn't available for Australia, he shouldn't play shield cricket, our comps are not designed to develop players for other countries.
Perry Bridge
Guest
It's interesting - sometimes we get obsessed with the absolute number of runs. Context is important and relativity is important. Henriques and Nevill certainly 'made hay while the sun shone' - however from a 2-2 start - it was the hard work of Larkin (86) and Patterson (wasn't Maddinson the 'wrong Patterson' test selection??) (88) who did the heavy lifting to steady the ship with a 156 run 3rd wicket stand. That isn't taking away from Henriques and Nevill and a 391 run partnership taking them into the NSW record books. Burns then, after fielding in those conditions scored 108 and 88* out of 557 for 11 wkts as the follow on was enforced. So - in the end - a drawn match with 1160 runs for 17 wickets. Average 68.2 per wkt. How good therefore was Somerville's 8-136 off 59 overs of graft and toil in that completed QLD innings? No other bowler more than 2 wkts in the match. Contrast to the SA v Vic match - 4 completed innings, 856 runs for 40 wkts - avg 21.4 per wkt. Sayers very good with match figures of 8/99. Holland 7/96. Pattinson 5/96. Tremain 4/69. Batting clearly not easy - so how do we rate the match contributions of Finch 49 and 71 and White 45 and 56, or match top individual score of 92 by Jake Lehmann? Of the 856 runs, these 3 batters accounted for 326 of the total runs at 54.33, leaving just 530 for the other 19 batters to share across 2 innings each, at just under 14. All these performances are to be celebrated. Perhaps most of all we have to remember to celebrate toiled for wickets and 'ugly' runs.
TK
Guest
On the evidence of 17 wickets falling for the match, there was no way of making a game. Declaring with a session to go on the 2nd day and trying to win by an innings seems to me the most likely path to winning. Especially when there's a chance the heatwave will break the pitch up and you've got 2 spinners. Declaring at 1pm when it was 40-something degrees would have been crazy. They obviously needed more runs to win the game, why not score them when the other team are suffering in the field and the pitch is at it's best? Captaincy's a tough gig if you can score 250 at 80 and still be accused of selfishness.
qwetzen
Guest
Actually Bushy, was Haddin dropped? Quoting CI; "Haddin had originally lost his Test spot to Wade after flying home from the 2012 West Indies tour when his 17-month-old daughter Mia was diagnosed with cancer." Aside: The next sentence is currently pertinent; "At 34, it seemed as though his international career might be over, but Haddin showed his dedication by returning to domestic cricket and winning back his place...". 34 eh? Why that's the same age as Chris Hartley!
Bill
Guest
Qwetzen - Nevill has never kept as abominably for Australia as Wade or Haddin have.
Don Freo
Guest
Mind you, Hughes and Lillee are lifetime mates now. Great mates. As (the highly entertaining) Hughes often says, "You're a long time dead. No point in holding a grudge."
Art Vanderlay
Guest
"in the top 5 gooses on this site" and this coming from jeff...
Bakkies
Guest
Yeah it is called the Silverfern
Basil
Guest
"Venetian Blinds". He's an obscure writer, a beatnik from the Village...