Shaun Young

An allrounder whose sheer consistency has clearly bracketed him among the best-performing players in the first-class arena in Australia over the last decade, Shaun Young continues to be one of Tasmania's most reliable cricketers. Stockily built, the doughty Young's strength is his batting. Although he is not the most technically correct player, he places a high price on his wicket, has compiled a number of great first-class innings and has often been the lynchpin of defiant Tasmanian middle and late order performances. While it looks relatively innocuous, his medium pace bowling has also proved remarkably effective throughout his career. In the main, this success has been due to his ability to produce deceptive changes of pace and to swing the ball both ways. He also possesses an inherent capacity to frustrate batsmen with the tidiness of his line and length and his penchant for bowling tight, competitive spells over sustained periods.

Notwithstanding the fact that his selection was based upon fortuitous circumstances in that he happened to find himself in the right spot at the right moment (he was playing with Gloucestershire at the time), Young has even enjoyed the distinction of winning a Test cap for Australia. This one moment of international glory came when he was chosen as a late replacement for the injured Jason Gillespie (and Paul Reiffel, who had earlier returned home for the birth of his child) in the sixth Test of the 1997 Ashes series. Unfortunately for him, he was a member of a losing side, made only four runs with the bat and was unable to take a wicket from the limited opportunities afforded him in the match.
John Polack (May 2004)