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Zimbabwe have been somewhat unsettled, and they’ll need their batsmen to come good in a must-win second ODI

Liam Brickhill23-Oct-2018

Big Picture

Bangladesh have been finding ways to win even as their top order has struggled this year. They’ve won nine out of 15 ODIs since January, but 2018 hasn’t been good for their top four.Barring the final of the Asia Cup, the last time a Bangladesh opening pair lasted the first ten overs of an ODI innings was back in January, in the third match of the tri-nation series. In the 13 ODIs since, the openers have repeatedly failed to get through the Powerplay unscathed, and during the Asia Cup they were two or three down inside the first ten in every game apart from the final against India.It was a familiar story in their series opener against Zimbabwe – Liton Das survived an early run-out chance and a catch that was ruled not out by the TV umpire only to spoon a catch to mid-off, Fazle Mahmud fended at a lifter for a duck on debut, and Bangladesh’s middle order was under severe pressure early on.As they close in on their sixth World Cup appearance, all this points to a pressing question: who is going to open with Tamim Iqbal? Imrul Kayes’ career-best ton did his chances no harm, while Anamul Haque has fallen out of favour, Soumya Sarkar and Nazmul Hossain Shanto struggled at the Asia Cup, and while Liton registered his maiden ODI century in that final he has struggled for consistency. His partner in that game was Mehidy Hasan, but that is an experiment unlikely to be repeated in the long term. Heading into the second ODI against Zimbabwe, the hosts are searching for consistency at the top.So are the visitors. Zimbabwe have trialled seven different opening combinations in ODIs this year, and while the Solomon Mire-Hamilton Masakadza combo seems to be their favoured one, it hasn’t been helped by Mire’s indifferent form. He is averaging 14.77 in ODIs this year, without a fifty, while Masakadza has strung together several 20s recently but hasn’t been able to convert his starts. The difference for Zimbabwe is that, unlike Bangladesh, they have not been able to recover through the middle order or land the killer blow with the ball, and have won just five of 24 ODIs this year.

Form guide

Bangladesh: WLWWL (Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Zimbabwe: LLLLL

In the spotlight

Brendan Taylor has scored more runs than anyone else against Bangladesh in ODIs, and despite missing Zimbabwe’s mid-year assignment against Pakistan he is still his country’s leading run-scorer in ODIs this year. But he’s not passed fifty since his 138 against West Indies at the World Cup Qualifiers in March, and in five of the eight limited-overs innings he’s played since then, he’s been out to spin. Zimbabwe desperately need Taylor to play to the potential of his statistics if they are to keep the series alive.Mustafizur Rahman only took one wicket in the opening match, but the waspish menace of his spells meant that Bangladesh retained control throughout Zimbabwe’s chase. He was the most economical of the home attack, racking up 36 dot balls as Zimbabwe sought simply to see him off. He also seemed to have added a little more zip through the air, and it was easy to see why he is Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs this year.

Team news

Rubel Hossain is fit but Bangladesh are unlikely to go for four pacers in their playing XI. The team management could also think of Nazmul Hossain Shanto in place of Fazle Mahmud.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Liton Das, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Fazle Mahmud, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mohammad Mithun, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Mohammad Saifuddin, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Nazmul Islam, 11 Mustafizur RahmanAn out-of-sorts Mire will probably sit out for Cephas Zhuwao once again, and Zimbabwe may look to firm up their batting with the inclusion of Tarisai Musakanda.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Cephas Zhuwao, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Brendan Taylor (wk), 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Sean Williams, 7 Peter Moor/Tarisai Musakanda, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Brandon Mavuta, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Tendai Chatara

Pitch and conditions

Chasing sides have won four out of seven day-night games at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium where pitches are reputed to be batting-friendly. The weather is likely to be dry on Wednesday, and dew could be a factor.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh have never lost an ODI to Zimbabwe at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium. The teams have played five completed ODIs at the ground.
• Brendan Taylor is the only Zimbabwe batsman to have made an ODI century at this ground.
• No bowler has taken an ODI five-for here, though Shakib Al Hasan has come close twice with four-wicket hauls.

Quotes

“You have to shuffle according to the situation in ODIs. Everybody is on their toes that they can bat anywhere from three to five.”
“Mushfiqur made nearly 150 against Sri Lanka, almost a hundred against Pakistan so he should have scored 200 against Zimbabwe. Mustafizur should have taken five or six wickets. But cricket doesn’t work that way.”

The allrounder had left the field after bowling just five deliveries in England’s final warm-up match, and scans confirmed a recurring back injury had flared up

Melinda Farrell09-Nov-2018Injury has forced Katherine Brunt out of the Women’s World T20, in a major blow to England’s campaign to add to their World Cup title. Brunt retired from the field after bowling just five deliveries during England’s final warm up game against India in Providence on Wednesday.The 33-year-old had been battling a recurring back injury that flared up just before her selection in September and, such is the all-rounder’s importance to the side, the selectors included her in the squad in the hope she would be back to full fitness sometime during the tournament.But while they were keen to give her every chance of recovering, her discomfort while bowling off a shortened run-up in the match against India was obvious. Brunt was unable to complete her only over and appeared distressed as she left the field.Scans the following day confirmed another flare-up of the back injury that struck Brunt during the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia last year.Brunt’s extensive experience and recent form, not to mention her dual roles in the side as opening bowler and powerful middle order batsman, makes her particularly hard to replace. England have no like-for-like player to bring in and will have to balance the need to go into matches with strengthened batting or an extra bowling option.Uncapped pair Linsey Smith and Sophia Dunkley are considered England’s leading options, with Smith making a strong claim for selection during the warm-up matches.In calling up Western Storm’s Fran Wilson, a member of England’s winning World Cup side who has also played 14 T20 internationals, England have chosen to extend their batting options. However Wilson is not expected to be available for England’s first match against Sri Lanka in Saint Lucia on Saturday.

After a lengthy conflict, highlighted by last year’s pay dispute, the two bodies attempted to mend fences in a meeting in Melbourne

Daniel Brettig27-Nov-2018Australian cricket’s governing body and players union will enter the holiday season by being back on each other’s Christmas-card lists for the first time in several years, after a somewhat amorphous but fruitful meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday.Led by the interim chairman Earl Eddings, members of Cricket Australia’s board and senior executives shared several hours with the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) executives, including the president Greg Dyer and chief executive Alistair Nicholson. The meeting was among the 42 recommendations included in the independent review of CA’s culture, carried out by the corporates ethics expert Dr Simon Longstaff and the former Test batsman Rick McCosker.Arguably the greatest troubles confronting both parties are the ones currently being thrown up by the schedule, which has been placed in harsh relief by the struggles of an Australian system missing three of its best batsmen. The former coach Darren Lehmann has termed it “ridiculous”, while his successor Justin Langer has been little less kind. Ironically, this summer’s tangle of red and white ball, home and away has coincided with the forming of a “scheduling advisory group” as part of last year’s MoU, meaning the ACA had more say in this summer’s calendar than they did in the past.While relationships between the two bodies had been witness to what Dyer called a “thawing” in the year since the fractious 2017 pay dispute, the release of the cultural review had created another flashpoint, when the ACA unsuccessfully sought reductions in the Newlands scandal bans for David Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft the day after the cultural review was released.Since the damaging findings were aired publicly, both the CA chairman David Peever and the most senior board director Mark Taylor have quit, amid rumblings that Dyer may consider doing likewise. Taylor, in particular, had expressed frustration that much of his work over the preceding 12 months, to try to patch up relationships between the board and the players’ association, seemed to have accomplished little.However, Eddings spoke in a more conciliatory fashion, of a day when he met with Dyer, with both leaders in something of an uncertain position. Eddings is yet to be endorsed as anything other than an interim chairman, with the influential state associations of New South Wales and Victoria intimating that they want to see the identities of the new recruits to the board – replacing Peever and Taylor – before endorsing any long-term decision over the chairmanship.”We understand the critical role the ACA plays in representing the players and in driving the success of many of the recommendations made in the Ethics Centre Review,” Eddings said. “Today’s meeting was an important step, not only for CA and ACA, but for Australian cricket. We look forward to more of them in the new year.”Dyer, meanwhile, has one year left of his term as chairman. “There was significant goodwill between the ACA and CA displayed at today’s meeting, given we have much in common, including the objectives of growing and improving Australian cricket,” he said. “The Ethics Centre Review provides the framework for a more collaborative relationship between us, and the ACA is committed to supporting this as a matter of priority.Kevin Roberts, the lead negotiator for CA during last year’s dispute and now the new chief executive, made his own gesture towards seeking change in how his organisation dealt with others through the dismissals of senior executives Pat Howard and Ben Amarfio. On the day he was appointed to replace James Sutherland, Roberts had stated that CA’s relationship with the ACA needed to improve gradually, without being left to fester up until the time of the next pay deal.”We obviously can’t change history. What we can do is work very closely with the ACA on a sustained basis over many years,” Roberts said last month. “To make sure the relationship with the ACA and the players is not defined by negotiations that happen over a few months every five years or so, but the relationship is defined by how we work together, to develop national teams, to support our players and to help them develop as athletes, as competitors and as people.”We’ve got over three-and-a-half year until the next MoU needs to be negotiated and our commitment is to build a stronger relationship in that period. We’ll experience some challenges along the way, but when we work on really sincerely and genuinely building that relationship with the ACA, and continuing to strengthen our relationship with players, cricket will be in a far better space when it comes time to contemplate the next MoU down the track.”The signing of the MoU last year does provide the clear air in which to forge a better partnership, although there remain plenty of individual areas for debate, not least the suggestion by the ACA executive member, player manager and Cricket NSW board director Neil Maxwell that fast bowlers, such as his client Pat Cummins, be entitled to longer-term central contracts in return for avoiding the extra cash available at the IPL.

The Bangladesh captain struck an unbeaten 26-ball 42 before his five-wicket haul derailed the West Indies chase

The Report by Mohammad Isam20-Dec-2018Bangladesh prevailed by 36 runs against West Indies in the high-scoring second T20I in Dhaka. Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round supremacy – five wickets after blasting an unbeaten 26-ball 42 – was complemented by Liton Das’ 60 off 34 and Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 21-ball 43, the latter adding 91 for an unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Shakib. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing.West Indies kept fighting through Rovman Powell, who made 50 off 34 balls with five fours and a six, after they had lost half their side by the 11th over. Powell, who was dropped on 6 and 14 by Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim respectively, slammed Abu Hider for 20 runs in the 14th over, hitting him for a four and a six down the ground before two top-edges gave him two more fours.Only when Powell fell in the 16th over, did the home side breath properly. Keemo Paul struck a four and two sixes in his 16-ball 29, but he too fell in the penultimate over, caught at deep square leg while trying to hoick Mustafizur Rahman.After being put in, Liton powered Bangladesh to 211 for 4, their second-highest total in the format. The opener struck four sixes and six fours in his knock. There was an odd play-and-miss but Liton in full flow made for pretty viewing. He added 68 for the second wicket with Soumya Sarkar, who struck three fours and a six in his 22-ball 32.After Liton and Soumya fell in the same Sheldon Cottrell over, and Mushfiqur Rahim also fell in the following over, Bangladesh slightly lost their way.But Shakib and Mahmdullah charged their way through the last seven overs as Bangladesh added 112 runs in the last ten overs. Shakib struck a flat-batted six over midwicket apart from his five fours.Mahmudullah, Bangladesh’s designated slogger, struck seven fours, crashing five boundaries in the arc from backward point to extra cover, apart from his two tickled fours.While West Indies lost Evin Lewis early in the big chase, Hope blasting Mohammad Saifuddin straight for two straight fours in the second over kept them going.Hope and Pooran, whose 14 runs came off two fours and a six, added 41 for the second wicket. Shakib had Pooran sky a catch to short fine leg immediately after he had smacked the bowler for a six.Mustafizur was taken for 24 in his first over, with Hope hitting him for four consecutive fours – over mid-on, flicking him past square-leg, scything him over cover and smashing straight down the ground. Under pressure, Mustafizur bowled a horrible bouncer that went for five wides, making it even worse.But Hope fell soon after Pooran, sweeping Mehidy Hasan straight down the midwicket’s throat for 36 off 19. Shakib then removed Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo in the 11th over, both trying to push for boundaries but top-edging the slogs to the fielders.Carlos Brathwaite was Shakib’s fourth wicket, Mushfiqur affecting a smart stumping in the 13th over when the batsman missed a wide ball but didn’t slide back his foot back while Mushfiqur juggled the ball.Shakib’s five-wicket haul was only the third by a Bangladesh bowler in T20Is and the first since 2016 World T20 when Mustafizur took a five-for against New Zealand in Kolkata. The first was taken by Elias Sunny against Ireland in 2012.

Rules are rules but penalty robs final Test of great player and captain

Andrew Miller04-Feb-2019Trust the ICC to be a buzzkill. The decision to suspend Jason Holder in the wake of West Indies’ stunning victory in the Antigua Test is one of those typically letter-of-the-law decisions that make any rational recipient scream with outrage. It’s like being zapped by a speed camera while doing 38mph on a deserted stretch of A-road at 3 o’clock in the morning. Yes, I know rules are rules, and all that but …. AARGH!Jeff Crowe, the ICC match referee (whose previous hits include the closing moments of the 2007 World Cup in Barbados), no doubt waded through a ream of mitigating circumstances before, reluctantly, adhering to the governing body’s lugubrious protocols. Never mind the scorecard, the West Indies captain was a full two overs short of fulfilling his obligations to an entertainment-starved public.Crowe’s inner monologue may have played out something like this:”England’s batsmen caused endless delays to the action in this series by lining up to be zapped like moths in a chip shop … check.””The contest finished TWO WHOLE DAYS EARLY therefore a quicker over-rate would have resulted in even less of a spectacle for an enraptured paying public … err, yes, check … I think.””The suspense and tension in the stadium whenever West Indies’ four quick bowlers were steaming in from the sight-screen – in particular Shannon Gabriel, with his Michael Holding approach and Patrick Patterson delivery stamp – by no means compensated for the loss of instant gratification that could have been provided by a seven-over spell of leg-stump darts from John Campbell. Check.””Jason Holder is one of the good guys, an inspirational leader whose personal journey mirrors that of Clive Lloyd in the wake of West Indies’ 5-1 hammering on the Australia tour in 1975-76, and who – in the course of two brilliantly orchestrated Test victories – has overseen nothing short of a Caribbean renaissance. This, in turn, could reach a towering crescendo in St Lucia next week, and so we, cricket’s governing body, must go out of our way to cultivate the moment for the greater good of the game. Well, yes … but will nobody think of Article 2.22.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct!“Checkmate.Of course, it’s grossly unfair to single out Holder’s case over and above any other international cricket captain of the past umpteen years. No-one batted an eyelid when Afghanistan’s captain Nowroz Mangal, for instance, was nobbled in Buenos Aires during a World League Division Three fixture in 2009. More recently, when Alastair Cook was sin-binned on England’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2014, his predicament was laughed off as a mercy killing for a woefully out-of-form captain, not to mention a portent of his actual sacking as ODI captain two weeks later.No, the reaction to Holder’s sudden banishment from a series that he has dominated with bat, ball and brain has been overwhelmingly emotional and fundamentally irrational. It’s not a phenomenon unique to cricket – Laurent Blanc’s suspension from the 1998 World Cup final was one such example of a wider game united in sympathy for one player’s cause – but in a sport such as cricket, where the individual battles are the basis on which the whole team game is built, the absence of such a key protagonist is perhaps more keenly felt.But Holder’s predicament does beg the alternative question. Why on earth do people get so worked up about over-rates, anyway? Particularly in Test cricket, a form of the sport which is – now let’s be honest here – not exactly built for speed.On the rare occasions that I get to proselytise about my favourite form of the game – usually when one of my American colleagues is popping over the pond to find out what the fuss is all about – my advice to the uninitiated is “don’t watch it, just let it wash over you”.Bring a picnic, do the crossword, read a book, absorb the rhythm of the contest… and then, just when you’re beginning to wonder whether there’s any point to the spectacle other than as a backdrop to an afternoon of sun-bathing and idle chit-chat, it will hit you between the eyes. A passage of play that is so absorbing, time stands still, and even the beer snakes cease their writhing.Think of some of the great passages of play that you’ve borne witness to in Tests gone by. Flintoff’s over at Edgbaston was seven balls, including a crucial bonus no-ball that allowed Ricky Ponting to edge the outswinger; Atherton v Donald at Trent Bridge came and went in a blur of bouncers and edges – probably eight overs tops, half of which weren’t even delivered by or to the men who stole the moment.You’d be hard-pressed to say that any spectator who witnessed moments such as those could possibly claim to have been short-changed, however fleeting the duel may have been.Now think of some of the dross. Alex Hales’ donkey drops during the Cape Town Test two years ago, for instance, or the dull but efficient darts that Chris Gayle continues to serve up on the T20 circuit but which claimed him 73 wickets at an economy rate of less than 3 back in his Test days. Unless there is a tactical reason for such bowlers to be unleashed – and there often is, it’s why Test cricket is so fascinating – there’s no way on earth that captains should be forced to turn to them just because the regulators are tapping their watches on the boundary’s edge.In fairness to the ICC, there are obvious reasons why protocols have to exist. Time-wasting can be a deliberate and series-changing tactic – think West Indies in Trinidad in 1989-90, for instance, or England at Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes. These are the instances that need to be stamped on for the greater good, for these are the moments when the spectators (or half of them, at any rate) are liable to feel short-changedBut if people really do get worked up about over-rates, then the only thing to do is eat into the margins that will actually punish the players without short-changing the fans. If “two overs” is the shortfall that can cost Jason Holder his shot at leading West Indies to a 3-0 “blackwash”, then get all fielding teams to bowl 30 overs a session come what may, and eat into their lunch and tea breaks rather than the sport’s competitive integrity.But until then, the ICC need to brace for the brickbats and accept that they have made a miserable, self-flagellatory, joy-sucking pronouncement, one that goes against the wishes of pretty much every cricket-lover in the globe… not least the put-upon England fans who, in between their howls of despair at their lame-brained glory-slogging batsmen, have secretly rather enjoyed this month’s reminder of what Test cricket used to be.

New Zealand captain happy to have a “somewhat settled squad”, pleased to be part of a three-Test series

Mohammad Isam in Hamilton27-Feb-2019The New Zealand way is to be humble, not talk big. They are now the No. 2 side in the Test rankings, but it’s difficult to get Kane Williamson to say anything more than “It’s great to have a somewhat settled squad”.They have one of the strongest pace attacks in the world, which can swing and seam the ball and can be very intimidating for oppositions, particularly in home conditions. They have a batting line-up of two A-listers and several more-than-competent supporting acts, whose runs have contributed enormously to recent wins. They have found a pack of spinners who are competing for spots. They have a standout wicketkeeper and are a brilliant fielding side.But there’s no chance of getting even one of them to act like a star.On Monday, Todd Astle and Ross Taylor acknowledged that it was the “Kiwi way” to be humble.0:18

ODI batting performance of the year: Ross Taylor, 181 not out v England

Williamson, too, wouldn’t be drawn to anything remotely close to boasting.”It’s great to have a somewhat settled squad,” he said. “Experience mixed with an element of youth. It has always been a strength of New Zealand cricket to have guys coming in. But in the last two or three years, the team has been fairly settled.”Allowing guys to feel like they belong, the core group very much feels like that. There are leaders in the group. It is a helpful thing to have this culture. With the old heads around, you can weather some of the bad days a little bit more and bring out the good ones. It is also important to do the groundwork every day you turn up.”Williamson said the team’s focus has firmly been on cricket rather than the results or the frills that come with it.”It is something that you don’t focus on. You focus on the cricket. This year, there’s a little bit more Test cricket than last year,” he said.”You turn up in every game to play the best cricket. It ends there. In terms of results, rankings and how people view it, aren’t really focusses for us. You can look back fondly at the end of the season, but we have some tough cricket coming up.”For a change, though, it’s a three-Test series – against Bangladesh, starting in Hamilton on Thursday – and that has pleased Williamson.”I think we have had a number of two-match Test series, which ended up as one-all. Both sides are saying that it would have been great to have a decider. It is great to be involved in a three-match series,” he said.

The India captain said that Australia were more composed in the pressure moments during the series

Deivarayan Muthu in Delhi13-Mar-20198:00

Doesn’t feel like something off has happened – Kohli

Virat Kohli wasn’t offering any excuses at the end of India’s 3-2 ODI series defeat at the hands of Australia. Not dew, or the fact that a fair bit of time and effort during the series was spent on trying out different combinations keeping the World Cup in mind. He also said nobody in the dressing room was “panicking” after losing an ODI series at home just before the World Cup, as they were “pretty clear” about the XI for the world tournament.”None of the guys in the change room are panicking, the support staff is not feeling down after this defeat,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference. “Because we know the things that we were wanting to do in these last three games, but purely because now it’s only the World Cup after this in the one-day competition. We as a side feel balanced, it’s just that in the pressure moments, they [Australia] showed more composure than us.”As a side, combination-wise, we are pretty sorted condition-based. Maximum one change, you’ll get to see condition-based. But other than that, the XI we want to play, we are pretty clear about it.”India fiddled with their XI through the series and often juggled between experimenting with different combinations and finding a way to secure the series. Among the batsmen, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Kedar Jadhav and Kohli himself played all five matches, and so did allrounder Vijay Shankar. MS Dhoni, however, was rested for the last two ODIs, which opened the door for Rishabh Pant, who scored 52 runs in two innings. KL Rahul got just one game while Ambati Rayudu three.In the decider, India went in with five pure bowling options by leaving out Rahul for Mohammed Shami and played Ravindra Jadeja at No. 7. Kohli didn’t offer experimentation as an excuse for India conceding the series after being 2-0 up.”The last three games, the idea was to give the guys on the bench and the fringe guys a bit of game time as well and just put them in those positions and see how they react,” he said at the post-match presentation.”And you couldn’t have tried that anywhere else apart from those three games. That is not an excuse at all because we expect to raise our standard of cricket. The changes [in the playing XI] is not an excuse. It will never be an excuse. But we used these three games to give game time to guys who we think are good enough to perform at this level.”5:01

India’s middle order still a concern?

Kohli also refused to blame the dew, which hindered the bowlers particularly in the fourth ODI in Mohali, for India’s series defeat and instead credited Australia for dealing with pressure much better than the hosts did.”These are our conditions, we can’t be weighed down by our own conditions,” he said. “They were more composed in the pressure moments. They were more, I would say, positive and brave in the pressure situations, and hence they won those important moments in the game. And when you capitalise on probably every important moment that comes in the game as a side, it gets very difficult to go past that side.”So even the way they batted in Mohali after [Glenn] Maxwell got out, chasing 130-odd in 13 overs was an outstanding effort. Even here [in Delhi], and in Ranchi as well, there was constant pressure on us throughout, and the areas they bowled really made us play the shots that we played. Credit has to be given where it’s due. And we certainly were not up to the mark, and they were and as I said, they were deserving winners.”The next assignment for the Indian players is the IPL, which begins on March 23, and Kohli said that the onus will be on the individual player to approach the franchise if he needs a break in a bid to stay fresh for the World Cup. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had echoed his captain’s views on the eve of the third ODI in Ranchi, saying the players will be wary of workload management in the IPL.”We’ve given the responsibility to the player to be smart and to inform the management of the franchise and be in touch with Patrick [Farhart], our physio,” Kohli said. “All the workload will be monitored during the World Cup – and given a window, the guys can afford to rest.”I can guarantee that because a World Cup comes every four years and we play IPL every year. Not to say we won’t be committed to the IPL, but we’ve got to be smart. We have to work in balance and take smart decisions. The responsibility and the onus is on the player. No one will be forced to do something. Eventually, everyone will know no one wants to miss the World Cup and cost the team good balance.”

In a season dominated by the pace bowlers, who makes our Sheffield Shield team of the tournament?

Alex Malcolm01-Apr-2019Marcus Harris (1188 runs at 69.88)The left-hander became the first man since 2014-15 to register 1000 runs in a Shield season. The feat was even more impressive given the last five matches he played were against the Dukes ball. He scored three centuries and six half-centuries and was incredibly consistent across the season. His third Sheffield Shield final hundred was instrumental in Victoria claiming the title and he finished as the Shield’s leading scorer.Alex Doolan (761 runs at 38.05)The experienced right-hander from Tasmania started the season superbly with a century in seaming conditions at the Gabba. He averaged one run less than New South Wales’ Daniel Hughes and made one less century but he passed 50 seven times in 20 innings and played half those innings on the toughest new-ball batting wicket in the country and deserves recognition because of that consistency.Will Pucovski (649 runs at 54.08)He missed four games before Christmas due to mental health issues but still managed to score 649 runs. He made two centuries and three other scores above 50 in just 13 innings. The highlight was his extraordinary 243 against Western Australia in the first game of the season whilst struggling with his mental health. He was very impressive after the BBL scoring a century against Tasmania, 82 against South Australia and making 51 in the second innings of the final, in a game where only three players passed 50.