Voges races into Ashes contention

Adam Voges’ incredible run of form in the Bupa Sheffield Shield has positioned the 35-year-old as a possible bolter for Australia’s Test tours following the World Cup.

The Western Australia captain today plundered a career-best 249 in his side’s 8-611 against South Australia in Glenelg.

Quick Single: Voges double hands WA first-innings honours

Voges teamed up with fellow veteran Michael Klinger for a record-breaking stand of 311 for the third wicket, and his last five first-class scores now read 249, 22*, 101, 139*, 101 – a total of 612 runs at a staggering average of 204.

“(Voges is) having a great season,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager, Team Performance told cricket.com.au.

“Before this round of cricket, there were seven or eight guys who were averaging over 60 in Shield cricket, so they're having a pretty good season.

“So I think those guys have taken the claim that's it's not just about having a good season; you have to have a great season.

“There's a few players who are putting in those sorts of performances and it's good for the people who we're going to have a good look at.

“Obviously the competition for places in the winter on those two tours (West Indies and England) is huge with bat, ball and the keepers.

“There's some great competition and I can tell you that Rod Marsh and Mark Waugh and Trevor Hohns have been at games all (week) to keep assessing talent, work with the state talent managers to make sure those players know that there's plenty of opportunities this year.”

A look back to the previous Shield season further strengthens Voges claims for higher honours. Across the 2013-14 summer, he made 769 runs at 54.92. 

Together with this season's numbers, the 35-year-old is averaging 78.57 across his past 21 innings, with seven hundreds and four fifties.

Voges debuted for Western Australia in the 2002-03 season and is closing in on 10,000 first-class runs at an average in excess of 43, with 23 hundreds, and despite Australia undergoing a generational change under Ricky Ponting following the retirement of a clutch of legends, he has never received an opportunity in Baggy Green.

Voges’ one-day international numbers are also outstanding, with the right-hander averaging 45.78 with four half-centuries and one hundred across 31 ODIs.  

The Perth product also has experience in England in his favour, having represented Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and most recently Middlesex in the English County Championship.

His most recent stint was with Middlesex in 2013, when Voges appeared in four matches and made 383 runs at 56.82, with a century and a pair of fifties.

The Warriors captain – who was also a standout in this season’s Big Bash League competition as he led Perth Scorchers to the title – can find hope in his former WA teammate Chris Rogers, who made his Test debut as a 31-year-old before enduring a five-and-a-half year wait for his second match in Baggy Green on the 2013 Ashes tour of England.

Since, Rogers has enjoyed a productive time at the top of the order in the twilight of his professional career, forming an outstanding partnership with David Warner and compiling 1535 runs in 20 Tests at 39.35, with four hundreds.

- Additional reporting by Martin Smith