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Opinion

Celebrating the Sheffield Shield: Best ever WA team

Roar Guru
28th October, 2019
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Roar Guru
28th October, 2019
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Western Australia were admitted to the competition in 1947-48 and experienced immediate success.

They had to wait 20 years to against taste victory, which heralded a golden age for the state, regularly winning titles from the late 1960s to the 1990s. Wins have been more difficult to come by in the 21st century.

Set out below is the State’s greatest ever Shield XI, plus a second and third XI. See my previous article for the rules of selection. Remember that selection is solely based on a player’s career performance in the Sheffield Shield.

Check out previous entries in the series here.

Openers

Geoff Marsh
1977-1994. 100 matches. 7009 runs at 43.00. Western Australia won seven titles during his career.

Marsh never looked the greatest player and his career average is good, not great. However he could produce big scores, including his highest of 355 not out being the seventh-best in Shield history.

He also produced in the big moments, scoring centuries in the 1983-84 and 1988-89 Shield finals to help Western Australia win titles.

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Marsh also topped the Shield season runs in 1981-82 and captained his state 28 times.

Graeme Wood
1977-1991. 109 matches. 6904 at 46.33. Western Australia won six titles during his career.

This was a tight field, but I’ve gone with Graeme Wood. Wood was a long-serving opener for WA, who captained the side 47 times and in 1987-88 topped the Shield season runs and scored a century in his state’s Shield final win.

Middle Order

Justin Langer
1991-2008. 108 matches. 9406 at 52.25. Western Australia won three titles during his career.

The current Australian coach was a prolific run-scorer for Western Australia over many years. Langer scored the 12th most career runs in Shield history and is ninth on the list of career century makers.

He scored four double centuries for WA, took 104 catches and captained the state 30 times.

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In 1991-92 Langer scored 149 in WA’s Shield final victory over NSW. He also topped the Western Australia season runs in their 1997-98 title win.

Damien Martyn
1991-2006. 97 matches. 6910 runs at 44.58. Western Australia won three titles during his career.

What a year. Martyn topped the WA season Shield runs in their 1991/92 title win. Then in 1998/99 Martyn scored 85 and took five wickets in WA’s away Shield final win over Queensland. Martyn was a useful partnership breaker, taking 33 career wickets at 38.36. He also took 91 catches and made one stumping filling in as keeper.

John Inverarity
1962-1979. 108 matches. 6888 runs at 40.51. 41 wickets at 39.78. Western Australia won six titles during his long career. 139 catches. 47 matches as captain.

John Inverarity was the heart and soul of Western Australia over a long career. He played the second most matches in Shield history (after leaving Western Australia he spent another five years in South Australia) and took more career catches than anyone else in Shield history. Inverarity is ranked 14th for career Shield runs.

In 1967/68 Inverarity topped the Shield season runs and scored 173 in WA’s must-win final game to win the title. In 1971/72 he again topped WA Shield seasons runs as they won the title. He also topped WA’s season runs in their 1973/74 title win.

After leaving Western Australia for the more spin-friendly SA he topped the Shield season wickets with his left-arm spinners in 1984/85.

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Tom Moody
1986-2001. 132 matches. 8,853 runs at 42 Western Australia 220 wickets at 28.62. Western Australia won six titles during his career. 114 catches. 41 matches as captain.

Tom Moody is WA’s greatest all-rounder and an underrated cricketer on the international stage. He scored the 18th most career runs in Shield history, including two double centuries, while also taking well over 200 career wickets.

In 1988/89 Moody topped the Shield season runs and then scored a century in each innings of Western Australia’s drawn Shield final for WA to win the title.

In 1996/97 he played a lone hand, scoring 152 and taking eight wickets in the state’s Shield final loss to Queensland. In 1997/98 scored a century in WA’s Shield final win over TAS.

Wicketkeeper

Tim Zoehrer
1981-1994. 107 matches. 4,248 at 30.78. 322 catches and 28 stumpings. Western Australia won five titles during his career.

This was an absolute photo finish with the great Rod Marsh, but Zoehrer gets the nod for for a few more career matches and dismissals (the fourth most dismissals in Shield history).

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Plus in 1991/92 Zoehrer scored a half-century in each innings of WA’s Shield final win against NSW. Also, he took 23 career wickets with his leg spinners.

Bowlers

Western Australia have historically been a pace bowling state, so there is only room for one spinner, but he is a good one.

Tony Lock (England)
1962-1971. 66 matches. 302 wickets at 23.87 average and 66.5 strike rate. Western Australia won one title during his career. 80 catches. 35 matches captain.

Tony Lock found time during his English career of over 650 first class matches an Western Australia 844 wickets, to anchor Western Australia as captain and premier bowler during the 1960s. He stands at 17th on the list of Shield career wicket takers.

Lock topped the Shield season wickets in 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1968-69. 1967-68 he topped WA’s season wickets and took nine wickets in their must-win final match to win the title.

Dennis Lillee
1969-1984. 70 matches. 323 wickets at 23.26 average and 51.3 strike rate. Western Australia won seven titles during his career.

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Lillee enjoyed an illustrious international career but still found time to dominate the domestic competition, with the 11th most career wickets, ninth most career five-wickets-in-an-innings and the seventh most career 10-wickets-in-a-match.

Lillee topped the Western Australia season wickets three time, in 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1983-84, with the state winning the Shield title in each season.

Jo Angel
1991-2004. 105 matches. 419 wickets at 24.86 average and 53.3 strike rate. Western Australia won three titles during his career.

The Western Australia warhorse played over 100 matches for his state and took the fourth most career wickets in Shield history. Angel topped WA’s Shield wickets in their 1991-92 and 1998-99 title winning years.

Terry Alderman
1974-1993. 97 matches. 384 wickets at 24.21 average and 53.3 strike rate. Western Australia won nine titles during his career. 81 catches.

Alderman topped the Western Australia season wickets in their 1980-81 title win. In 1987-88 Alderman took six wickets in the second innings of WA’s Shield final win.

In 1988-89 he again topped WA’s season wickets and took four wickets in the drawn Shield final draw to win the title.

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Alderman finished his career with the fifth-most career Shield wickets. Virtually unplayable when the conditions were right, his 14 for 87 against NSW in 1981 are the eighth-best match figures Shield history, and he also has tenth best.

Second XI
1. Greg Shipperd. 1978-1988. 62 matches. 4,025 runs at 43.27. Four titles. Topped WA season runs in their 1980-81 and 1983-84 title wins.

2. Chris Rogers. 1998-2008. 65 matches. 5,524 at 48.45. 279 high score. One title. Suffered for splitting his career between Western Australia and Victoria.

For WA, Rogers topped the Shield season runs in 2006-07 with 1,203 the tenth most series runs in history. But then for Victoria: 2008-09 topped Victoria season runs (11th most season runs in history) and scored a century in Shield final draw to win over QLD.

In 2014-15 scored a century in the Shield final draw to win over WA. Ninth most career Shield runs. Fourth-most career hundreds. Eighth-most career 50s and over.

3. Shaun Marsh. 2001-present. 99 matches. 6,797 runs at 42.74. 102 catches. Marsh is getting better with age at Shield level, making his highest score in 2019-20 (Current to 21 October 2019).

4. Barry Shepherd. 1955-1966. 75 matches. 4,934 runs and 43.28. 219 high score. Three double centuries. 33 matches as captain.

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5. Adam Voges. 2002-2017. 112 matches. 7,522 runs at 44.77. 249 high score. Two double centuries. 41 wickets at 36.07. 170 catches. 55 matches as captain.

In 2013-14 topped Shield season runs and scored a first-innings century in the drawn Shield final to lose against NSW.

In 2014-15 scored 1,358 season runs, the fourth most in history. Fifth most career catches. In 2008-09 Voges took 23 catches, the most in a series.

6. Ian Brayshaw. 1961-1978. 91 matches. 3,771 runs at 30.16. 167 wickets at 24.52 average and 65.6 strike rate. Six titles. 95 catches. His 10 for 44 in 1967 against Victoria is the second best innings figures in Shield history.

7. Rod Marsh. 1968-1984. 86 matches. 4,412 runs at 33.93. 310 catches and 33 stumpings. Seven titles. 17 matches as captain. Fifth-most career Shield dismissals.

8. Bruce Yardley. 1966-1990. 52 matches. 1,414 runs at 22.09. 159 wickets at 25.98 average and 60.9 strike rate. 11 titles during his career. Topped Shield season wickets in WA’s 1980-81 title win.

9. Brendan Julian. 1990-2001. 87 matches. 2,507 runs at 23.00. 292 wickets at 29.35 average and 55.2 strike rate. Three titles.

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In 1995-96 took nine wickets in the drawn Shield final to lose to South Australia (who hung one to draw 9 wickets down).

In 1997-98 topped Western Australia Shield season wickets and scored a century in the state’s Shield final win over Tasmania.

In 1998-99 scored 84 in WA’s away Shield final win over Queensland. 20th most career Shield wickets.

10. Chris Matthews. 1984-1991. 44 matches. 1,097 runs at 22.38. 188 wickets at 24.88 average and 51.8 strike rate. Three titles.

Topped Shield season wickets in 1986-87 title win. In 1987-88 topped the Shield season wickets and took eight wickets in WA’s Shield final win.

14th most career wickets. Ninth-most career five-wickets-in-an-innings. In 1997-98 took 56 season wickets, the eighth-most in history.

11. Jason Behrendorff. 2011-present. 30 matches. 126 wickets at 23.31 average and 44.3 strike rate.

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In 2013-14 took 6 wickets in the drawn Shield final to lose against NSW. His nine for 37 against Victoria in 2017 is the fifth-best innings figures in Shield history.

His match figures that game of 14 for 89 are ninth-best in history. Behrendorff has the fifth-best career strike rate in Shield history (minimum 20 matches, current to 21 October 2019).

Third XI
1. Ken Meuleman. 1952-1960. 42 matches. 3,035 runs at 53.24. 234* high score. 32 matches as captain. Topped Shield season runs in 1956/57.

2. Mike Veletta. 1983-1995. 114 matches. 7,306 runs at 41.04. 262 high score. Two double centuries. Five titles. 138 catches and two stumpings. In 1986-87 topped Shield season runs and scored 262 in the drawn Shield final to win the title.

3. Ross Edwards. 1964-1975. 64 matches. 3,939 runs at 41.03. Four titles. 70 catches and eight stumpings. Scored a century in the 1973-74 final must-win game to win the title.

4. Kim Hughes. 1975-1989. 57 matches. 3,925 runs at 42.2. Seven titles during his career. 26 matches as captain.

5. Marcus North. 1999-2014. 111 matches. 7,277 runs at 39.76. 239* high score. Two double centuries. 85 wickets at 41.01. One title. 86 catches. 40 matches as captain. In 2013-14 topped Shield season runs.

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6. Graeme Watson. 1971-1975. 22 matches. 997 runs at 31.15. 54 wickets at 24.37 average and 54.8 strike rate. Three titles. In 1973-74 took seven wickets in must-win final game to win title.

7. Adam Gilchrist. 1994-2007. 54 matches. 3,055 runs at 41.28. 203* highest score. 260 catches and eight stumpings. Two titles.

In 1995-96 scored 189 in the drawn Shield final to lose against South Australia (who held on to draw with one wicket in hand).

14th most career Shield dismissals. In 1995-96 had 54 dismissals, the fifth most in history. He did it again the following year.

8. Brad Hogg. 1994-2007. 70 matches. 2,766 runs at 31.79. 122 wickets at 37.72. Two titles.

9. Charles Puckett “The Iron Man”. 1947-1953. 22 matches. 113 wickets at 24.96 average and 63.5 strike rate. One title. Topped Western Australia season wickets in their first-ever title win in 1947-48.

10. Mick Malone. 1975-1982. 37 matches. 139 wickets at 24.61 average and 59.5 strike rate. Three titles. Topped Shield season wickets in WA’s 1976-77 title win.

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11. Ron Gaunt. 1955-1960. 27 matches. 104 wickets at 25.54 average and 54.5 strike rate.

Other notables and one-offs
Keith Carmody – Topped Western Australia season runs in their first-ever title win in 1947/48.

Des Hoare – 1956-1966. 176 wickets at 26.34. Topped Shield season wickets in 1960/61.

Colin Milburn (England) – Only 16 matches. 1,382 runs at 55.28. 243 high score. Topped the Shield season averages in 1968-69.

George Young – 1973. Played only two matches but scored 125 in WA’s must-win final match to win the title.

Bruce Laird – Topped Western Australia season runs in their 1974-75 title win. In 1983-84 scored twin half-centuries in WA’s Shield Final win.

Craig Serjeant – Topped Western Australia season runs in their 1976/77 title win. In 1981/82 took 23 catches, the most in a series.

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Tony Mann. 1966-1984. 2,106 runs at 23.66 and 181 wickets at 31.65. Topped Western Australia season wickets in their 1977-78 title win.

Ryan Campbell. 1996-2006. 87 matches. 5,421 runs at 36.62. 203 high score. 187 catches and 11 stumpings. In 1997/98 scored a century in WA’s Shield final win over Tasmania.

Brett Dorey. 2004-2010. 155 wickets at 26.53. Topped Shield season wickets in 2008-09.

And three youngsters
Cameron Green. 2017-present. 27 wickets at 20/7 average and 39.3 strike rate, the best ever average for Western Australia, although only from eight games (current to 21 October 2019).

Joel Paris. 2015-present. 54 wickets at 21.7 average and 44.4 strike rate – the second-best average for WA in history (current to 21 October 2019).

Jhye Richardson. 2016-present. 56 at 22.71 average and 49.0 strike rate – third-best average for WA in history (current to 21 October 2019).

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