ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2020

24 Australia in 2019/20 There might have been opportunity for some of these batsmen to press claims to a regular place in the Test team during the two-Test series scheduled in Bangladesh in June 2020, but this fell an early victim to the pandemic. All being well, 2020/21 will see Australia tested in a series against India, when both sides will be keen to assert their unique right to the overall title of ‘top Test team’.  The Sheffield Shield competition proceeded on familiar lines, though for much of the season the table took on a somewhat unfamiliar look. For at the midseason break in December the table was being propped up by the holders Victoria, whose first six matches had brought them three draws and three defeats. More predictably, New South Wales had a substantial lead over the rest of the field after securing five wins in their opening six matches.  When the competition resumed in February things were rather different. NSW won only one of their first three fixtures and lost the other two, while Victoria won all three of their matches (one of them against NSW) and thereby rose to second place in the table, bidding for a place in the final and a chance to retain their title despite their pre-Christmas form. But at that point the pandemic intervened, and the season was brought to a premature end with one round of matches, and the final, still to be played. Queensland and Tasmania, as well as Victoria, were still in with a chance of securing second place in the table; but New South Wales remained clear at the top, and there could be little room for complaint when Cricket Australia decided that they should be officially awarded the Sheffield Shield title for the season.  With Australia playing all their Tests at home, the leading players were able to participate in at least some rounds of the Shield competition. But it was non-Test players who topped the competition’s runscorers and wicket-takers, with Nic Maddison (Victoria) leading the way for the batsmen with 780 runs at 86.66, and USA international Cameron Gannon (Queensland) heading the wicket-takers with 38 at 20.92. Over the season as a whole, though, it was the Test players who took the honours. Marnus Labuschagne (1182 runs at 78.80) was unsurprisingly the leading runscorer; no other batsman bettered David Warner’s tally of 927. Among the bowlers, Mitchell Starc finished at the top of the list with 46 wickets at 17.23. Nathan Lyon (42) was the only other bowler to reach 40. (KSW) Sheffield Shield 2019/20: Final table P W L D BatBP BowBP Adj Pts 6 0 1 1 New South Wales 9 6 2 1 6.16 7.6 0.00 50.76 2 Victoria 9 3 3 3 7.59 6.6 3.34 38.53 3 Queensland 9 4 3 2 3.31 7.6 0.00 36.91 4 Tasmania 9 3 4 2 4.79 7.5 0.00 32.29 5 Western Australia 9 2 3 4 6.53 5.2 3.64 31.37 6 South Australia 9 2 5 2 8.54 6.0 0.00 28.54 Adjustments: Victoria: 3.34 points added for sub-standard pitch in match against Western Australia on 7 December 2019 Western Australia: 3.64 points added for sub-standard pitch in match against Victoria on 7 December 2019 NOTE: The last round of matches, which was cancelled owing to the pandemic, is ignored in the above table. The Final was also cancelled. Cricket Australia awarded the Shield to New South Wales .