Klinger named in Team of the Season

Run-machine Michael Klinger has added yet another accomplishment to an outstanding 12 months with the bat, named in the BBC's team of the English county season.

Klinger, today named captain of the Alcohol. Think Again Western Warriors for the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup, was rewarded for his brilliant form that helped Gloucestershire win the England domestic one-day cup last Saturday.

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A phenomenal limited-overs season saw the Gloucestershire captain plunder 531 runs in eight innings with three centuries and two fifties, while he also scored 634 runs from 12 innings with another three tons in England's domestic T20 tournament.

Klinger, who recently expressed his desire to break into the Australia XI for next year’s World T20, also excelled in the longer form of the county game, scoring 468 runs at 46.8, including two centuries.

"Michael Klinger has not only scored big runs in all formats, but his leadership as he moves forward a highly promising group has been superb,” BBC Commentator Bob Hunt said.

"His strength at the crease centres around an ability to read the match situation and to adapt accordingly.

"He can play the audacious shots when necessary, but he likes nothing better than to build an innings and bat all day.

"And what an attitude - he commuted back from Western Australia to play in the One-Day Cup semi-final against Yorkshire when he needn't have done so and scored yet another match-winning century."

Klinger returned to Australia in August and had only intended to fly back to England should Gloucestershire make the one-day final, but instead opted to return two weeks earlier for the semi-final, where he scored an unbeaten 137.

The 35-year-old’s outstanding county season followed an Australian summer that saw him star as WA's top run-scorer in last year's Matador Cup victory, and continued the sensational run of form to dominate in the KFC Big Bash League and the Sheffield Shield.

Klinger was joined at the top of the order in the BBC team by Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales, whose excellent form was enough for the batsman to earn a call-up to England’s Test squad to play Pakistan next month.

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Hales scored 892 runs at 49.56 in the County Championship, with three tons, and 401 runs at 44.56 in the one-day competition.

"After making his name as a prodigious white-ball biffer, Alex Hales' determination to prove himself in the first-class arena has delivered rich dividends in 2015,” BBC commentator Dave Bracegirdle said.

"Three scores over 180, including a career-best 236 against champions Yorkshire, have taken the 26-year old beyond 1,000 runs in all competitions for the second season in a row, a staggering about-turn after a miserable 2013 which saw him dropped to the seconds with an average of just 13.”

England Test squad members Jonny Bairstow and Zafar Ansari were also included in the team of the year, as was Sussex’s Luke Wright, who will return to play for Melbourne Stars again this KFC Big Bash League season.

Read more on the BBC Team of the Season here.

BBC Team of the Season: Michael Klinger (Gloucestershire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Ashwell Prince (Lancashire), James Hildreth (Somerset), Luke Wright (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey), James Harris (Middlesex), Tom Curran (Surrey), Jack Brooks (Yorkshire), Chris Rushworth (Durham)