ACS Oveseas First-Class Annual 2013

Such a closely contested battle for the Sheffield Shield ought to have raised the competition’s profile nationally. And yet there was a growing feeling that the Shield was being marginalised to meet the needs of more quickfire tournaments - hardly the best way to produce the new generation of batsmen and bowlers needed if Australia were to rise to the top again at Test level. The Shield final was Ponting’s last-ever game in the competition, and it was fitting that he ended the season as Sheffield Shield Player of the Year. He comfortably led the Shield run aggregate with 911 runs at 75.91, with two Tasmanian colleagues (M.J.Cosgrove 784 and A.J.Doolan 715) in second and fourth places. Tasmania’s all-round strength was further shown by the fact that two of their bowlers – L.R.Butterworth (45 wickets) and J.P.Faulkner (39) - took two of the top three places in the wicket-takers’ list. Top place, however, went to South Australia’s medium-pacer C.J.Sayers, with 48 wickets at 18.52. This tally meant that Sayers was also the overall leading wicket-taker of the season. Among the batsmen the leader was M.J.Clarke with 1,065 runs at 81.92 from nine matches. No others passed a thousand runs for the season, although three players (Ponting 943, Hussey 930 and P.J.Hughes 912) all got within a hundred of that figure. (KSW) Sheffield Shield 2012/13: Final table P W L LWF DWF DLF Adj Pts Quot 6 0 2 2 0 1 Tasmania 10 4 1 2 1 2 0 30 1.375 2 Queensland 10 4 3 2 1 0 0 30 0.989 3 New South Wales 10 4 2 0 3 1 -1 29 1.153 4 Victoria 10 4 3 1 1 1 0 28 0.945 5 Western Australia 10 4 3 2 0 1 0 28 0.820 6 South Australia 10 4 4 1 0 1 0 26 0.853 FINAL: Tasmania drew with Queensland but won the Shield by virtue of leading at the league stage. 30 Australia in 2012/13