ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2014

Australia in 2013/14 Australia’s successes in 2013/14 were very much a team performance, but even so one player stood out: Mitchell Johnson, a cricketer who had suffered more than his share of disparagement and even ridicule, finally shook off all the doubts and uncertainties and bowled fast, aggressively and, above all, straight. In Test after Test he showed what great fast bowling is all about, capturing 37 English wickets at a stunning 13.97: only Jim Laker (46 at 9.60 in 1956) and Rodney Hogg (41 at 12.85 in 1978/79) have taken so many in an Ashes series at a lower average. Johnson followed this with 22 wickets in South Africa to give him 59 victims at 15.23 in 8 Tests since his restoration to the side at Brisbane. Another rejuvenated cricketer, Brad Haddin, fresh from his record-breaking 29 catches in England, seemed always the man to come to the rescue whenever Australia were remotely troubled in the home Ashes series. Batting at 7, he made 493 runs in the rubber, second only to yet another rehabilitant, David Warner, who followed up his 523 against England with 543 in only three Tests in South Africa. Even despite the 3-0 defeat in England in 2013, the brilliant victories against England and South Africa in 2013/14 (by 5-0 and 2-1 respectively) carried Australia to second place in the Test rankings, only fractionally behind South Africa. In the Sheffield Shield, the penultimate round of matches left the competition finely poised, with New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia sharing the lead on 26 points. But South Australia were thrashed by Tasmania in the last round of games, while New South Wales forced a narrow win against Western Australia to claim first place in the table and with it the right to host the final. Relegated to Canberra because the Sydney Cricket Ground was hosting the opening games of the 2014 Major League Baseball season, the Shield final petered out into a rain-affected draw and New South Wales thus claimed their first Shield since 2007/08. The 2012/13 champions, Tasmania, never looked like retaining their title, although two wins in their last three matches lifted them to a respectable 22 points. New South Wales boasted the season’s two leading first-class runscorers: wicketkeeper Ryan Carters with 995 at 55.27, and captain Steve Smith, in fine form for state and country with 959 at 59.93. The Shield aggregates were headed by former Test player Marcus North of Western Australia with 886 at 63.28. The most successful Shield bowler was New South Wales’s left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe with 41 although Mitchell Johnson, aided by his Test performances, headed the first-class aggregates with 42 at a splendid average of 16.16. (JCB) Sheffield Shield 2013/14: Final table P W L LWF DWF DLF Pts Quot 6 0 2 2 0 1 New South Wales 10 4 2 1 3 0 32 1.065 2 Western Australia 10 4 2 1 0 3 26 1.026 3 South Australia 10 3 1 1 3 2 26 1.004 4 Queensland 10 3 2 0 3 2 24 1.141 5 Tasmania 10 3 3 1 1 2 22 1.003 6 Victoria 10 1 4 0 2 3 10 0.789 FINAL: New South Wales drew with Western Australia but won the Shield by virtue of leading at the league stage. 33