McAndrew’s performance against Victoria was remarkable. He scored 17 and 60 with the bat. The latter coming in a 105-run match-winning stand with Alex Carey to rescue South Australia after they were seven down with a lead of just 59 in the second innings.
In between those innings, he bowled 21 overs and took 3 for 71, including the key wickets of Victoria’s two leading run-scorers this season in Peter Handscomb and Sam Harper, as well as young gun Ollie Peake.
Then, after his 144-ball innings on day four, he struck twice in the evening session to leave Victoria 35 for 3 chasing 196 to win. He returned on the fifth morning to trap Mitch Perry lbw to finish with 3 for 50 from 15 overs in the fourth innings as Victoria collapsed to be bowled out for 139.
In last year’s decider, McAndrew’s team-mate Brendan Doggett took 11 wickets to claim Player of the Match, which vaulted him into a Test debut in the Ashes seven months later. The same thing could happen to McAndrew given the health of Australia’s fast-bowling cartel and a brutal schedule of 20 Tests in the next 18 months.
“I think he probably should have already done it [play Test cricket] by now, to be honest, personally,” Harris said. “If you speak to him, I don’t think he’s too worried about it. I just think he wants to keep winning here, which for me, that’s a great attitude to have.
“We have got some pretty good cricketers playing up in that Test team anyway. But should he have been given a chance? Maybe. I think he’s showed now, what’s he been in [South Australia] now five years? Four of those years, he’s been the leading wicket-taker or not far off it. And he’s pretty handy with some runs.”
“I think he is [the ultimate] professional that just rarely misses. Credit to him for getting player of the match. He’s a super player, and he batted really well as well. For me, facing him, he’s just pretty relentless. Very accurate”
Victoria captain Will Sutherland on Nathan McAndrew
It is hard to believe McAndrew did not debut in Shield cricket until the age of 28. He had played three first-class games for Auckland in the Plunkett Shield, “randomly” to use his own words, in 2016. But he had spent his 20s in Sydney grade cricket trying fruitlessly to break into the New South Wales side. But those years built his durability, both physically and mentally.
McAndrew has not been in Test calculations yet. But the selectors have picked him in three Australia A matches and a Prime Minister’s XI first-class fixture that was essentially an A team. However, he’s realistic about his chances of earning a baggy green.
“I don’t really know what will ever happen with the next level,” McAndrew said after receiving his match award. “At the end of the day there’s three pretty amazing quicks, plus Scotty Boland. No matter how well I bowl, I’m not taking any of their spots. I’m not that stupid.
“Injuries have got to happen for me to get an opportunity. And all I can do is just keep bowling to the best of my ability and if anything at that next level ever comes up, then I’d be stoked. If not, I’m just also so happy with what I’ve been able to achieve over the last five years after moving down and not playing any first-class cricket.”
It’s one thing for his coach to press his case by singing his praises, it’s quite another for his opponents to do it. But when you ask any Shield batter about who the toughest bowlers are to face in the competition, McAndrew’s name is regularly mentioned.
There have been questions around his ball speed translating to the next level, but opponents believe he can hit the bat harder than others and could benefit from a lighter workload, in the same way Michael Neser found success during the Ashes after a winter without playing county cricket and not being bowled into the ground in every Shield fixture.
“I think he is [the ultimate] professional that just rarely misses,” Victoria captain Will Sutherland said. “Credit to him for getting player of the match. He’s a super player, and he batted really well as well. For me, facing him, he’s just pretty relentless. Very accurate.
“He’s a weapon around the wicket to left-handers.”
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
