Boof Lehmann's bronze age at Adelaide Oval

Former Australian Test cricketer Darren Lehmann was honoured today at the Adelaide Oval when a life-sized bronze sculpture was unveiled before the start of the second day’s play in the Fourth Test against India.

The statue sees Lehmann facing up, the length of a cricket pitch away, to his Australian and South Australian team-mate and good friend Jason Gillespie in a stunning monument located behind the Adelaide Oval members stand.

Not only were the pair regulars in the Australian side, together but they were members of South Australia’s last Sheffield Shield-winning side in 1995/96.

Any South Australian cricket fan who followed the game intimately in the 1990s will know of the clamour from South Australia for Darren Lehmann to be selected to wear the baggy green.

Apart from a near miss against Pakistan, Lehmann, like a number of South Australians over the years, always seemed a step away from Test selection but destined never to achieve the honour.

As players like Michael Bevan, Mark Waugh, Tom Moody, Ricky Ponting and, briefly, Stuart Law were given their chances, our boy languished in Sheffield Shield ranks, being named 12th man just once (1989-90).

We loved Darren Lehmann because of his knockabout nature but we also looked upon him fondly as he was the type of aggressive cricketer who took the game by the scruff of the neck. He played the way cricket should be played.

If you look back at recent South Australian cricketing history, you can follow the lineage from Boof, to his mentor David Hookes, to Ian Chappell and back to Les Favell – all of whom were not only attacking cricketers but also had their clashes with administration.

Finally, in March 1998, Lehmann gained his chance being named for the Third Test against India in Bangalore.

He became the second Gawler boy, following JJ Lyons, to represent Australia in the Test arena, while he followed Peter Sleep from the Salisbury Cricket Club to the biggest stage.

Local cricket followers breathed a sigh of relief when he finally gained his chance.

While his Test career faltered initially, the rest of the nation soon came to enjoy the stroke play, slightly unorthodox as it sometimes could be, that South Australians had enjoyed since he was a teen.

Ultimately, his Test career lasted 27 Tests and saw him score a smidge under 1800 runs at an average of 45. He had five centuries to his name.

During his time in the Test side, fostered by Steve Waugh, Lehmann’s leadership and tactical credentials came to the fore as well, ensuring his place in the side.

Lehmann’s tactical acumen continues to shine in today’s cricketing panorama, coaching Queensland in Australian domestic cricket, while also being a highly sought after leader in the IPL.

For one whose Test career was stalled due to perceptions about his commitment to the game and the sporting lifestyle, Boof prooves that keeping to the basics beats new age computer driven coaching modules every time.

Normally an 1800-run Test career wouldn’t be enough to see a player accorded the honour received by Lehmann today, but it is evidence of the love that the South Australian cricketing public has for the ever approachable and humble man.

Figures alone do not tell the story of a player who, while among the most talented of his generation, had to battle for his opportunity and grasped it for the fleeting moment that it was there. He is a fine example of persistence in an age where youth expects immediate promotion.

Given the South Australian cricketing establishment’s apparent ambivalence to having both Boof Lehmann and his mate Dizzy Gillespie involved in the coaching department of this state’s first class cricket side, it will seem ironic to many that the SACA has chosen to honour these true blue Aussie blokes in this fashion.

Let’s hope that, when the time’s right, these honours will help build a bridge which will bring them back into the fold and leading the Redbacks to victory.

For now, SA cricket fans will have to be content with developing a tradition of having a beer with Boof behind the members stand. Just like cricketers did after a hard day’s play in the old days.

This article first appeared on www.wickettowicket.com.au