This is an attempt to make sense of the first six rounds of the Sheffield Shield competition and, with the Test team about to undergo a big transition, will help track who is doing well and needs some more improvement.
South Australia vs Tasmania
Karen Rolton Oval
3 Sentence Summary: Tasmania belies its inexperienced attack to claim its first Shield win. South Australia shows both potential and inexperience in Jekyll and Hyde performance. A century to Charlie Wakim and 87 to Caleb Jewell anchors Tasmania’s first innings while Beau Webster follows his 62 in the first innings with four wickets in South Australia’s second innings.
Who Pushed Test Claims: Jake Lehmann hit a captain’s knock for South Australia posting 115 in conjunction with 71 from Ben Manenti to set up South Australia’s 307. With the ball, Jordan Buckingham looks like a brilliant fast bowling prospect with 7-71 in Tasmania’s first innings off the back of good form for Australia A.
For Tasmania, Caleb Jewell continues to send a timely reminder to selectors in the summer of David Warner’s retirement.
Who did not push Test claims: Henry Hunt, once touted as a future Australian opener, continued his quiet start to the season. He would hope that his returns continue to improve as he concentrates on his batting.
Queensland vs New South Wales
Cricket Central
3 Sentence Summary: New South Wales begins its new era with a dominant draw with Queensland. It took centuries from Michael Neser and Jimmy Peirson to save Queensland’s blushes. New South Wales should be proud of its start to the Shield season, and it shows that there are good things to come.
Who Pushed Test Claims: Michael Neser. 142 and three wickets for the match is a great way to start the summer.
(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Jack Edwards: 6-36 with the ball and 86 with the bat proves that he is an up-and-coming prospect to watch. Honourable mention: Jimmy Peirson.
Who Did Not Push Test Claims: Kurtis Patterson. The two-Test player, including making 144 in his final Test, needs a big summer after losing the captaincy and being dropped last summer. 32 was not the start he was looking for.
Western Australia vs Victoria
WACA
3 Sentence Summary: Second-string Western Australia cruise to an innings win thanks to a big century from Cameron Bancroft. Victoria did not have the batting to stand up to the Western Australian bowling attack shorn of most of its first-choice bowlers. Failing to reach 300 in either innings means back to the drawing board for the Vics.
Who Pushed Test Claims? Cameron Bancroft’s 122 set the platform for Western Australia’s mammoth total. Based on form over the past three years, Bancroft must be at least in the conversation to replace David Warner when he retires?
Who Did Not Push Test Claims: Peter Handscomb. The recent Indian tourist would have been hoping for a great opening to the Shield season falling for just 31 and 2 in Victoria’s innings.
He would be hoping for a solid score in the next match to continue putting his name in the selection frame.
Best XI across the first round: This looks at the best players in each position and fits them in where appropriate. Players can be moved down a rung in the batting order from where they normally bat, but they cannot move up.
For example, Matthew Renshaw could open or bat at No.3, but since he did not make runs in the middle order, he would not be eligible to bat in the middle order.
The object of this is to track the consistency across the Shield season. At least one player from each side should be selected unless one team utterly dominated that round.
Caleb Jewell
Cameron Bancroft
Travis Dean
Charlie Wakim
Jake Lehmann
Beau Webster
Jimmy Peirson
Michael Neser
Jack Edwards
Mitchell Swepson
Jordan Buckingham
Stay tuned for Round 2!
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