We’re counting down the 30 best individual seasons in the Sheffield Shield from the past 30 years. Today, bowlers and keepers feature
Top 30 Shield seasons of the past 30 years: 20-16
The countdown so far: 30-26 | 25-21
20) Paul Reiffel (Vic), 1999-2000
Matches: 11 | Wickets: 59 | Ave: 16.64 | 5wi: 1 | BBM: 9-130
Image Id: 531CCA86778D4C41BA9B4A7879CCB169A 33-year-old Paul Reiffel was 18 months out of his Test career and firmly entrenched in 'veteran' status when he produced the seventh-most prolific wicket-taking campaign in Sheffield Shield history.
It speaks to Reiffel's consistency – one of the key traits of his successful time in Baggy Green – that he went the entire regular season without claiming a five-wicket haul; instead, in 10 matches he claimed four wickets eight times and three wickets on another four occasions.
Heading into the final, he sat level with WA's Brad Williams atop the Shield wicket-taking list, with Queensland's Andy Bichel – an opponent in the decider – on 47.
Fittingly, Reiffel claimed his first five-fer of the summer in the first innings of the match, including the quartet of Jimmy Maher, Martin Love, Stuart Law and Andrew Symonds (as well as Bichel himself), before Bichel responded with six wickets of his own.
Reiffel claimed four second-innings wickets to Bichel's zero, and it was honours split between the two quicks; the Victorian was the leading wicket-taker for the season, but Bichel had another Shield title to his name.
19) Brad Haddin (NSW), 2004-05
Matches: 11 | Dismissals: 38 (35c, 3st) | Runs: 902 | Ave: 60.13 | 100s: 2 | HS: 154
Image Id: BB3BAE5E76AD4F07A3759283A223A186Brad Haddin was 27 and entering the prime years of his career when he went on a batting blitz in the 2004-05 Shield.
In an era of considerable wicketkeeping talent, Haddin spent the season separating himself from the pack chasing the title of 'heir to the Gilchrist throne', notching up a pair of hundreds and five fifties at a Gilchrist-like strike-rate of 83.28. The highlight was a strap-yourselves-in adventure of 154 from 162 balls against Victoria, which came after NSW had fallen to 5-105 and contained 22 fours and four sixes.
The Blues went on to win the Shield for the second time in three years and Haddin also snapped up 38 dismissals, enhancing his credentials as not only a high-class batsman but a genuine gloveman as well.
Seven catches in the final and scores of 68no and 41 rounded out his finest domestic campaign and precipitated a decorated Test career.
18) Stuart MacGill (NSW), 2004-05
Matches: 11 | Wickets: 54 | Ave: 24.66 | 5wi: 3 | BBM: 8-144
Image Id: FB2F787367D24BC18E2CCC6B3597DEEBIt had been seven decades since a spinner had wreaked the kind of havoc leggie Stuart MacGill managed in the 2004-05 Shield season.
Criticised at times for bowling the occasional bad ball (the Warne benchmark in that regard seemed impossible to contend with), no-one could deny MacGill's penchant for taking wickets, which he did with stunning regularity across the Blues' successful campaign.
Fifty-four times he struck, the most by a slow bowler since Victorian Chuck Fleetwood-Smith's left-arm wrist-spinners caused chaos to the tune of 60 wickets in six matches in the summer of 1934-35 (Colin Miller's record-breaking feats will appear later on this list – but they were of course a combination of pace and spin).
The only thing interrupting MacGill's prolific Shield season was a lone Test appearance in the new year at the SCG, in which he took eight wickets and out-bowled Warne, but his fate – seemingly as ever – was to return to the relative anonymity of the Shield where, a pasting at the hands of Justin Langer aside, he claimed 26 wickets in five matches to finish with what was then the seventh-highest wickets tally in Shield history.
17) Ian Harvey (Vic), 1999-2000
Matches: 9 matches | Runs: 543 | Ave: 49.36 | 100s: 1 | HS: 107 | Wickets: 37 | Ave: 22.27 | 5wi: 1 BBM: 7-111
Image Id: 63BB2BE34EBE42DCAF8D7655228F60B8Equal-sixth on the wicket-takers list and 15th among run-scorers, the 1999-2000 Shield season was Ian 'The Freak' Harvey at his most consistent.
Harvey took 11 wickets from his first three matches and then made his first decisive contribution with the bat in early December, rescuing Victoria from 5-76 with a fine 107. He then claimed 4-44 on the final day to produce one of the standout all-round performances of the summer in leading his side to a thrilling 11-run win. Eight days later he was at it again, taking a second-innings 4-38 as Victoria thumped South Australia, while even in defeat to Queensland he was a shining light, taking 5-53 (including the wickets of Matthew Hayden and Stuart Law) and making a second-innings 34no as the Vics fell apart for 103.
The new year brought with it more of the same: six wickets and 57no against New South Wales was followed by a run of hot form with the bat (92, 78no, 50) to close out an incredible season for the allrounder.
16) Chris Hartley (Qld), 2011-12
Matches: 11 | Dismissals: 58 (56c, 2st) | Runs: 544 | Ave: 32 | 100: 1 | HS: 111
Image Id: 2C328B48915941BB93F68D6A7BDEC56EChris Hartley had spent the previous half decade carrying on the Queensland wicketkeeping torch from his predecessors Wade Seccombe, and in the summer of 2011-12, he equalled the mark of 58 Seccombe had set in 2000-01 for the most dismissals in a Shield season.
Hartley would go on to become the most prolific gloveman in the competition's history, and this campaign was the high watermark of his decorated time in maroon.
In an extraordinarily consistent season, the 29-year-old claimed four or more catches in an innings on 10 occasions.
In a winning Shield season, Hartley was also the Bulls' fourth-highest run scorer, and his contribution with the bat in the final was decisive; after Queensland stumbled to 5-55 in reply to Tasmania's 241, the composed gloveman turned the tables with a fighting 111, then backed it up with a crucial unbeaten 19 in the second innings to guide his side to a target of 133 with just three wickets in hand (pictured above).
The best Shield performances of the past 30 years
30 – 26
25 – 21
Make sure to return to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app all this week as we continue our countdown of the best Shield performances of the past 30 years