Alexander James Doolan (born 29 November 1985) is an Australian former cricketer, who played domestic cricket for Tasmania from 2009 to 2021 and played four Test matches for Australia in 2014. Despite almost scoring a century on debut, Doolan was dropped after his fourth match and never returned to the national team. He retired from cricket in 2021. As of December 2022, Doolan is the eighth-highest Sheffield Shield run-scorer of all-time for Tasmania. Early career Doolan played domestic cricket for his home state of Tasmania and became their regular number three batter. He was playing for the team in the 2010–11 Sheffield Shield season, and was at the crease when teammate Mark Cosgrove hit the winning runs to give Tasmania their second-ever Sheffield Shield title. The innings that brought Doolan wider public attention was his unbeaten 161 for Australia A against the touring South Africans (then ranked as the number one Test team in the world) in November 2012. His rise to national attention coincided with the retirement of Ricky Ponting from the Australian national cricket team, so Doolan was seen as a potential replacement for Ponting. John Inverarity, Australia's national selector, included Doolan in his shortlist of four players who could replace Ponting. His opportunity did not come, and when the Sheffield Shield went on break for two months to make way for the 2012–13 Big Bash League season, Doolan had less opportunities to play. He was contracted with the Melbourne Renegades for the Big Bash League, but he spent most of the tournament on the bench watching. His form dropped when the Sheffield Shield returned. Doolan finished that summer fourth on the Sheffield Shield tally with 715 runs at 42.05, improving on his leaner 2011–12. Doolan was able to benefit from Ponting's retirement in another way, as Ponting played with Tasmania for the rest of the year and Doolan spent time with him to learn from him. Doolan came to attention again the next summer with a match-winning century for Tasmania against New South Wales. Doolan had another opportunity to push for selection in Australia's Test team the next summer when he was again selected to play for Australia A, this time against the touring English team. Doolan was added to Australia's Test squad as injury cover for Shane Watson ahead of the final Test match of the 2013–14 Ashes series, but he was not required to play.