Adam Voges has dominated headlines amongst former and current Outlaws over the past week, his career-best unbeaten 269 pushing Australia into a strong position in the First Test against the West Indies.
Elsewhere, Jake Libby was the star with both bat and ball in a losing cause for Latrobe Cricket Club Down Under, Jake Ball shined with the ball for England Lions and Darren Sammy has helped Rangpur Riders in to a high-flying position in the Bangladesh Premier League.
Here is a review of this week in cricket.
Adam Voges
Since making his Test debut in June against the West Indies, Adam Voges’ Australia career has gone from strength-to-strength. One of the experienced heads in a side that has lost a number of star players over the past year, Voges has accumulated 922 runs at an average of 76.83, including a career-best 269 not out in the current first Test against the West Indies.
Alongside Shaun Marsh (182), the pair smashed several records on their way to a partnership of 449. The stand marked the highest for the fourth-wicket in Test history, the highest for any wicket in Tests against the West Indies, the second highest ever for Australia in the longest format and the sixth-highest amount of runs scored for any wicket in a Test.
Australia eventually declared on 583-4 before the West Indies were reduced to 207-6 by the close on day two, former Nottinghamshire left hander Darren Bravo showing solid resistance to finish the day on 94 not out while Notts bound Peter Siddle currently has 1-22 from 12 overs.
Jake Ball
After a remarkable 2015 season in which he took 67 wickets across all three formats for Nottinghamshire, Ball has carried his good domestic form into his debut tour for the England Lions.
Against a UAE side featuring Paul Franks among its coaching staff, Ball took 2-22 and smashed a last-ball boundary to take a hard fought victory before backing that up in the first two matches against Pakistan A.
The pace bowler, who clocked a 93.9 miles-per-hour delivery in a NatWest T20 Blast encounter against Lancashire this summer, backed-up his warm-up performance up with 2-27 in a losing cause in the first of five T20s, before his 2-19, including the final Pakistan A wicket, took the Lions to a 41-run series-leveling victory.
Jake Libby
A fine all-round performance from Jake Libby was not enough to earn Latrobe victory over Riverside in the Cricket North West First Grade competition, the Demons going down to a five-wicket loss. In his usual role opening the batting, the right-hander held the innings together with a composed 61 as his side posted 177-7 from their 50 overs.
Despite Libby taking 3-29 from nine overs with his useful off-spin, and taking a catch, the visitors eased home with five wickets to spare.
Darren Sammy
Having impressed during his short spell with the Outlaws in the NatWest T20 Blast last summer, Darren Sammy has been aiding the Rangpur Riders’ push towards the top of the table in the Bangladesh Premier League. Crucial with both bat and ball in the Riders’ victory over Kumar Sangakkara’s Dhaka Dynamites, in which he took 1-18 and smashed a quickfire 23, Sammy repeated the dose against Comilla Victorians, hitting 24 and taking 1-21 as the Riders went top of the table.
With the Australian Big Bash just six days away, a tournament that will see a host of Outlaws including Michael Lumb and Siddle take part, Sammy’s form will be pleasing the fans of the Hobart Hurricanes.
The 2015 season has seen dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.