A young batsman who enjoyed a breakout season in 2015-16, Alex Ross was rewarded with the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award at the Allan Border Medal night in January 2016. He had made his first-class debut the previous summer, having first appeared for South Australia in the domestic one-day competition in 2012, but in 2015-16 posted 642 Sheffield Shield runs at 35.66, including six fifties, and was second only to captain Travis Head on the Redbacks' run list. He also impressed in the BBL, where his proclivity for the sweep shot earned him the nickname "Sweepologist" from TV commentators. His liking for the shot had partially come from a childhood playing hockey in New Zealand. Born in Melbourne, Ross spent much of his childhood in Christchurch, where his father Ashley was a cricket coach - at one stage the assistant coach of New Zealand.
Brydon Coverdale