the innings that brought him wider public attention was his unbeaten 161 for australia a against the touring south africans in november 2012 and his work against dale steyn and vernon philander meant doolan featured in discussions about who would replace the retiring ricky ponting in the test team. his opportunity did not come but doolan finished that summer fourth on the sheffield shield tally with 715 runs at 42.05, improving on his leaner 2011–12. in the 2016–17 matador bbqs one-day cup, doolan scored 362 runs at an average of 120.66 with his highest score being 93. alex had 3 not outs throughout the tournament.