TASMANIA finished dead last in the Sheffield Shield in 2016-17.

The struggling state across the Bass Strait won just one of their 10 matches so the thought of playing in this summer’s final was not mentioned during pre-season. It didn’t even come up until the last round of the tournament.

It’s as remarkable a turnaround as you’ll see in any sport and no player embodies that change in fortunes more than 21-year-old Jake Doran.

Thrust into the national spotlight when he was picked to play in a two-day match against England in 2013, a 16-year-old Doran was compared to Mike Hussey by Greg Chappell.

Jake Doran — pictured aged 16 — had the cricketing world at his feet. Source: AFP

Before he had turned 17, he was already facing Kagiso Rabada in a Twenty20 for a Cricket Australia XI and before his next birthday, he became the youngest man to ever sign a full contract in the Big Bash League, joining the Thunder.

By the time he was 18, he was being touted for a shock Ashes call-up by Stuart MacGill, thanks to a century in an Under-19s Test in England in 2015.

That same year saw Doran pledge his allegiance to Tasmania, leaving his home state of New South Wales. It was a move that did not go down well with those at Cricket NSW.

Three years later and the left-hander no longer has a contract in the BBL and it seems an age since he was last considered the next big thing in Australian cricket. So dominant at the Under-19s international level, he looked a boy against men on the domestic circuit.

In each of his two first seasons with Tasmania, he started the Shield campaign in the XI. In each of them, he finished it playing for the Under-19s.

You would be hard pressed to make a case that he was treated harshly in either of them. He scored 301 at 21.50 across seven matches in 2015-16 and 288 at 24.00 across seven in 2016-17.

Jake Doran is bowled off a no ball by Victoria’s Dan Christian. Source: Getty Images

He goes into Friday’s final as the fifth-highest run-scorer for the season (722 at 45.12) and South Australian Callum Ferguson’s hold on top spot (780 at 48.75) is far from concrete.

If Doran does finish as the season’s highest run-scorer he will be the youngest to have pulled off the feat since a 20-year-old Matthew Hayden in 1991/92 and the fifth youngest ever, according to the Fox Sports Lab.

Don Bradman, Clem Hill and Norm O’Neill occupy sports 2-4.

It’s a turnaround in form that he largely puts down to a simple change — or lack thereof — in his technique and batting plans.

“Those first two years were pretty tough,” Doran told foxsports.com.au.

“You want to succeed. You don’t want to let your teammates down.

“I was probably trying to do too much to be honest. I was looking for ways to make things better and constantly changing my technique. That self-doubt comes in as a sportsman. You think, ‘If I can just be a little bit better at this or I just have to change this’.

“That happens as a young kid because you’re continually trying to succeed. I came to the realisation that I was frustrated at the fact I kept changing it, not giving it a go.

“That’s the difference between the first two years and now.”

Jake Doran playing for Australia at the under-19 World Cup. Source: Getty Images

Despite the struggles of those first two seasons, he has no regrets about making the move away from home. He maintains he did not throw himself into the deep end too early and has benefited from the rough times he has had.

“I know there was a little bit of hype when I first started and quite frankly, I’m glad that it didn’t keep going the way that it was. One of the biggest things in sport is failure, learning how to deal with it and learn from it.

“As a young kid, sometimes it gets frustrating, sometimes you can make the same mistakes. You just have to be able to learn from those mistakes.

“That was my main reason for coming to Tassie: to get that opportunity to learn.

“I can’t thank Cricket New South Wales enough for putting me through their pathway system but at the end of the day, for me to learn and become the best cricketer I can be, I think this was the best decision that I’ve made. To be honest, I haven’t really looked back.”

Doran scored 97 against his old state when they met at the SCG in February. It was one of six half-centuries and two 90s he scored this season. But the highlight of the season was a maiden first-class century on a seaming deck at Adelaide Oval.

Coming out to bat with the Tigers in serious trouble at 2-11, Doran grinded out 114 runs off 294 deliveries to set-up a 142-run win. It was a match-defining performance that spurred Tasmania’s first win of the season in the Shield’s fourth round.

“When I wasn’t scoring runs, it just seemed so far away from where I wanted to be and how I wanted to be performing.

“That century was pretty big for me. I’m not going to lie. It did lift a lot of weight off the shoulders.

“That first hundred means when you go out there now, you can actually realise that your plan works because you’ve got runs behind your back. You know that you can spend time at the crease and you know it’s going to happen.

“As stupid as it sounds, it’s like those hard fitness sessions that you do. When you do another one, it’s not as hard because you know you’ve done it before.”

Jake Doran celebrates reaching a century this season. Source: AAP

While he hasn’t backed that up with another ton since, his game has still gone to another level — with five half-centuries and two scores in the 90s in that run. Since facing that first ball at Adelaide Oval, his average sits at a healthy 54.45.

But as good as this season has been to him, he knows it will mean little if he cannot build it on next summer. He also knows things won’t always be this good.

“It’s just about being able to back it up and keep scoring runs and being consistent.

“I know there’s going to be another lull patch in your career, which I understand, but you take the good with the bad and just keep going with it.”

For Tasmania and Australia’s sake, you hope there’s more good than bad.