HE took more wickets than any other bowler and did it with one of the best averages in the competition, so it was no great surprise that Trent Copeland was named the NSW Blues' most valuable Sheffield Shield player.
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Copeland picked up the coveted award for the second season running at the 17th Annual Cricket NSW Awards Dinner on Friday night, capping of a stellar 2018-19 from the Bathurst talent.
Though the Blues fell to Victoria in the final of this year's Sheffield Shield - the first time NSW had made a decider in five years - they enjoyed plenty of highlights throughout their campaign. Plenty of them featured Copeland.
In the nine matches he wore the baggy blue, Copeland snared 52 wickets to top that statistic across the entire shield competition.
It was the first time in his NSW career he had gone past 50 scalps in a season, his efforts including three five-wicket hauls in an innings.
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His average of 18.21 was only bettered by the 36th ranked on the wicket-takers' list in Aaron Hardie. He took eight victims at 7.75 for Western Australia.
Copeland's economy rate - 2.31 - was also another major asset to the Blues. Remarkably of the 408 overs he bowled during the season, 112 were maidens.
Copeland claimed his 300th First Class wicket in round one against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, while he went on to surpass the great Australian left-arm fast bowler Alan Davidson on the all-time list of leading wicket takers for NSW in First Class. His tally now stands at 283.
