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Victoria recorded a three-peat, Aaron Finch belatedly blossomed as a long-form batsman, Hilton Cartwright pushed his Ashes credentials, and Chadd Sayers threatened the all-time wicket-taking record.
These are among a raft of stories to emerge out of the Sheffield Shield season, which ended late last week as Victoria claimed their third straight title with a strong performance in a draw against South Australia.
Victoria batted first in the final, racked up 487, then killed off the match by dismissing SA for just 287.
That win was built on a 224-run stand in the first innings between their gifted young openers Marcus Harris and Travis Dean, who both had solid seasons.
Here are some of the players who left a big impression on me this Shield season:
Alex Carey (South Australia) – 594 runs at 33, plus 59 dismissals
Carey broke the all-time Shield record for most dismissals in a season, with 59, eclipsing the previous mark of 58 co-held by just-retired Queensland champion Chris Hartley.
The South Australian may also have taken the mantle as the best pure gloveman in Australia, again from Hartley. Carey is clinical behind the stumps, possessed of the soundest of fundamentals, fantastic agility and soft hands.
What he can learn from Hartley’s career is that being a supreme gloveman is not enough to earn Test selection – runs are the most valuable currency. Carey’s batting improved significantly this year, as he made 594 runs at 33 from his 11 matches, including five half-centuries.
But, after 18 first-class matches, his highest score is just 79 and his average only 26.
Current and former Test keepers Peter Nevill and Matt Wade, average 40 and 39 in first-class cricket, respectively, so 25-year-old Carey needs to boost his batting to catch the attention of the national selectors.
Aaron Finch (Victoria) – 581 runs at 53
Few Australian players of the modern era have struggled as badly as Finch to translate good limited-overs international performances into success against the red ball.
After 33 first-class matches, Finch averaged a woeful 29 with the bat. Since then however, he has tapped a rich vein of form, averaging 44 from his past 32 games.
He was a standout for Victoria this Shield season, which may well help vault him back into the ODI line-up, which he has been in and out of over the past year.
Jon Holland (Victoria) – 50 wickets at 21
Holland is now a truly dominant Shield spinner, hoarding 77 wickets at an average of 21 in his past 16 matches.
For years Australia gave Test caps to spinners with horrible first-class records and little form to speak of. Unfortunately for Holland, Australia are now better placed for Test spin options than they have been in almost a decade, thanks to the presence of Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe.
That leaves Holland a firm third in the pecking order, needing to wait for injuries to potentially create opportunities.
That was how he earned his surprise Test debut in Australia last year, when O’Keefe got injured. But Holland looked underdone and bowled poorly in his two Tests, failing to produce the accuracy and tantalising flight which makes him such a threat in the Shield.
Holland’s development was stalled for many years by persistent injuries and now that’s he’s managed to stay fit he is realising his full talent. He is a very handy third spin option for Australia to boast.
Ashton Turner (WA) – 742 runs at 53, plus seven wickets at 39
Turner’s bowling development has been hampered by the presence of Ashton Agar and the fact that his home ground, the WACA, is the worst venue for spinners in world cricket.
In the absence of Agar, who was on the Test tour of India, Turner took six wickets in WA’s final match of the season to highlight the value of his underutilised offspin.
Perhaps, though, the lack of focus on his bowling is the reason for Turner’s rapid improvement as a batsman in the past 18 months. In that time, he has made just under 1000 first-class runs at an average of 46, including several crucial knocks this season.
Turner made his international debut in the T20s against Sri Lanka in February. Yet first-class cricket is his best format and, at 24 years of age, he’ll push for Test selection over the next few years.
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Hilton Cartwright (WA) – 861 runs at 54
Cartwright would be the next batsman I would pick to join the Test line-up. He has had an incredible 18 months of first-class cricket, piling up 1387 runs at 60 in that time.
Amid this golden run he earned a Test debut, in Australia’s final match of the summer against Pakistan, making a solid 37 in his only innings.
He was picked in that Test as an all-rounder, but the burly 25-year-old is not to be mixed up with bits-and-pieces players like Mitch Marsh and Moises Henriques. Rather, he is a brilliant top-order batsman, who dominates at first drop in the Shield, and just happens to bowl handy 130kmh seamers.
He signed off the Shield season with a commanding double of 170* and 70 against NSW.
Cartwright has a compact technique, a fine temperament, a wide range of strokes which he deploys with intelligence, and is equally confident against pace or spin. He could bat anywhere from three to six in the Test order.
Sheffield Shield Team of the Year
1. Ed Cowan (NSW) – 959 runs at 74
2. Marcus Harris (VIC) – 808 runs at 43
3. Hilton Cartwright (WA) – 861 runs at 54
4. George Bailey (TAS) – 839 runs at 60
5. Ashton Turner (WA) – 742 runs at 53, plus seven wickets at 39
6. Moises Henriques (NSW) – 775 runs at 65
7. Chris Hartley (Queensland) – 535 runs at 76, plus 25 dismissals
8. Chris Tremain (VIC) – 42 wickets at 19
9. Jason Behrendorff (WA) – 37 wickets at 18
10. Jon Holland (VIC) – 50 wickets at 21
11. Chadd Sayers (SA) – 62 wickets at 19