Brendan Doggett has pushed his international claims further again over the weekend behind a long list of prospective Australian paceman.
The Worimi man from Rockhampton, who has plied his trade with South Australia since 2021, was one of the architects in the downfall of the England Lions in their innings and 10-run defeat against Australia A on Sunday.
Despite a credible first-class record of 146 wickets at 28.19 for Queensland and South Australia, Doggett has shown a knack for surprising foreign rivals, having stunned the Indians earlier in the season.
In the only unofficial Test match that was hosted at Cricket Central Sydney, Doggett collected 3-16 off his seven overs while working in tandem with Will Sutherland, the Victorian allrounder grabbing 3-7 from five overs.
The touring English lower-order crumbled in their first innings, falling from 3-106 to all out for 116 in reply to Australia A's 9-373 declared.
Doggett first dismissed James Coles – the 20-year-old prodigy who was the youngest cricketer to play for Sussex when the batting allrounder was just 16 years and 157 days – for 14 to start the rot.
He next had the son of former Test captain Andrew Flintoff, Rocky – who just days earlier made a century against a Cricket Australia XI at Allan Border Field – caught out on the fence by Sutherland for 29.
Doggett's last wicket was tailender Sonny Baker for 3, caught by Kurtis Patterson for the second time in his spell.
Doggett returned for another bowl and picked up another wicket after Coles fell for only 2 in his 41-delivery knock when England Lions were forced to follow on and bowled out for 247 in the second innings.
Doggett stands behind incumbent pacemen Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland, who all played multiple Tests this summer, but is competing directly against Sri Lankan party tourist Sean Abbott, and arguably also against Michael Neser, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson and Fergus O'Neill.
The 30-year-old had proven to be a surprise packet against India A where prospective Test series players were trialling for one of the remaining spots in the touring party for the recent five-Test series in Australia.
Exactly four months to the day from his three-wicket haul in Sydney, Doggett captured career-best bowling figures of 6-15 for Australia A in one of two four-day fixtures played in Mackay.
"It was a bit unexpected," Doggett had said after his first Australia A performance in Mackay.
"I got injured in the first round of Shield cricket, so I've only bowled twice up until this game.
"I came in with an attitude of there's nothing to lose.
"I wasn't meant to be here anywhere, there were a few injuries, a few of the players fell down before me."
Doggett's name started to be talked about in dispatches around the country after what was the best figures of the first month of the summer's red-ball action.
One month later, Doggett joined Abbott in being called up into the Test squad in place of the injured veteran Hazlewood.
While the uncapped Doggett did not make a Test debut in the Adelaide day/night Test against the Indians, Hazlewood's spot was taken by Boland, arguably the best reserve Test bowler in the world in recent years, and the Gulidjan man went on to take 21 wickets in three Tests.
