Bananabenders vs the Apple eaters in the shield final. The only teams to have won half their games for the season.
The Qlders helped by the return to form of Renshaw in the second half of the season, Tassie seeing off the Vic batting lineup of Harris, Maxwell, Finch and White twice in the last game of the season to win their place.
If the Vics had of won they would have made the final with only 4 wins and none in the first half of the season.Tassie batting came good in the second part of the year with Wade making some runs and Doran having his best season so far,being able to take some pressure of Smiling George.
Queensland came from behind to beat the Bluebaggers in a tight game. NSW had a poor season after starting so well when the test players were in the team but then won only one of the last 8 games.
While the Croweaters and the Sandgropers were still in it til the second last round both teams had disappointing seasons after the previous years performances. SA being without the key of their pace triumvirate, Sayers, for the critical part of the season, were unable to win games as in previous seasons and their batting failed at crucial times. WA had a shocking run of injuries to their pace bowlers and the batting put in a couple of dismal performances towards the end of the year.
So the finalists were expected to be at the toe of the table while the 2 who finished bottom were expected to be finalists. A funny game cricket !
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Batting
Qld Labuschagne 758, Renshaw 686
Tas Doran 722, Bailey 551
Vic Maxwell 707, Harris 706
NSW Patterson 672, Hughe 661
WA Turner 650, Cartwright 632
SA Ferguson 780, Weatherald 765 (Head 4th 738)
No one got close to 1000 runs
Labuschagne had a consistent seaon while Renshaw had a very good second half of the season with 3 centuries, the most for the season.,making up for a dismal first half.
Jake Doran finally produced the goods Bailey as always the backbone of his team.
Maxwell played 8 games and averaged over 50, while Harris was the teams only consistent performer in the first half of the season. White made 574 in 7 games at average of 52 after not being picked inthe first 3 games,
Hughes and Patterson were 9th and 10th on the list, the only reliable performers for NSW the next best was Neville in 26th with 396
Turner and Cartwright were 11th and 13th on the list while Bancroft in 4 games made 493 to finish 20th
SA had Ferguson, Weatherald and Head as 1st 2nd and 4th on the list but still finished bottom
Highest Av (5 games) - Burns Qld 57.7
Most 100s = Renshaw 3
Highest score - Maxwell 278
Double Centuries - Maxwell 278, Doolan 247no, Bancroft 228no, Burns 202no
Highest Strike rate - Finch 82.4 Head 74.6, Maxwell 70.6
Lowest strike rate (500 runs) - Doran 39.9, Dean 44.0,Patterson 47,5
BallsFaced - Doran 1811, Labuschagne 1530, Weatherald 1438
Most Ducks - Worrall 4
Sixers - Finch 14 (7 in one innings vs WA), Burns, White, Maxwell 8
Bowling
Qld Neser 37, Feldmann 33
Tas Rogers, Bird, Rainbird 35
Vic Tremain 51, Boland 38
NSW Copeland 34, O'Keefe 19
WA Mackin 28, Kelly 24
SA Winter, Worrall 34
Tremain got to 50 wickets @ 21continuing his good form over the past 3 seasons, Boland again having good year coming in second.
Tassie having 3 bowlers with 35 wickets were able to support their batting, Rogers being the find of the season.
No one would have picked Neser at the start of the season to finish 3rd on the wicket tally, not even his mother, being well supported by Feldman, who missed 2 games and Neser 1 game.
Winter was the croweaters sensation plying in only 5 games and being their equal highest wicket taker with 4 5wkt hauls in his 5 games.
Copeland had a good end to the season with 34 , while 10 of O'Keefes wickets came in one of his 5 games. One of NSW's problem is shown by Starc being their 3rd highest wicket taker with 17, in only the first 2 games of the season.
Mackin and Kelly being WA's highest wicket takers shows the extent of their injury problem their top line pacers.
Spinners
Swepson 11th 32@ 34.2 A decent return and his best season to date
Fawad 15th 7 games 27@ 37.7
O'Keefe 21st 5 games 19@ 30.8
Zampa 26th 5 games 17@46.6
Lyon 27th 4 games 13@21.8
Holland 29th 3 games 12@28.3
Agar 30th 4 games 12@ 37.7
O'Keefes 8/77 and 10/152 for the game against Vic being the best return for a twirlyman
Best Innings - Starc 8/73, O'Keefe8/77, Tremain 7/82
10 in game - Winter 10/109, Fekete 10/110, Starc 10/119, Tremain 10/143, O'Keefe 10/152
Most 5fers - Winter 4, Copeland 3
Best Ave - Wade 4.33 (3/13) Rogers 17.3, Winter and Neser 19.7
Most Overs - Boland 367,Tremain 349, Copeland 344, Mennie 343 (Swepson 272)
Keepers
Peirson 36 (35 ct 1 st)
Neville 34 (30/4) - 5 in an innings once 4 ct 1 st
Wade 33(33/-)
Most Catches - Webster 23
Highest Partnership - Labuschagne / Hemphrey 246 vs NSW
Highest Opening partnership - 195 Bosisto / Wells vs Vic
Highest Score - 9/562 Vic vs NSW
Lowest Score - 63 Tas, 67 WA, 93 WA
Biggest Win - Innings and 87 runs Tas d WA
Closest game - 16 runs Tas d SA
One more game to go
Go Tassie !