Short pitch: Sheffield Shield Efficiency

(c) Balanced Sports, click to enlarge

The chart above maps the combined batting/bowling prowess of each of last year's Sheffield Shield teams.  It forms a very rough guide to each state's efficiency by mapping the cumulative batting and bowling averages of each state's specialists against each other.  Please note the curious wording (batsmen/bowlers) - only recognised  batsmen and allrounders were used to calculate each state's cumulative batting average, while the same is true of bowling averages.  This means that the universal averages (used as axes to divide the graph into quadrants) are somewhat different.

With bowling average forming the X axis and a low number desired and a high Y value indicating a more efficient batting lineup, we can surmise that the top left-hand quadrant denotes the most efficient teams.  The opposite is therefore true of the inferior right quadrant.

Finally, the chart indicates that no matter how good a batting attack may be, it's much more beneficial to have butt-kicking bowlers - the most efficient bowlers came from Queensland, who won the Shield.  Tasmania had the next most efficient bowling outfit, who ended the season as runners-up.  Victoria managed third place.