What's wrong with the Redbacks?

Unfortunately, I think you're wrong OJG. As much as I would like to agree with you, I can't. I believe NSW and QLD are still the teams to beat. Both teams have a promising future stars such as Neville and Khawaja now for the Bulls. As I said before, I hope I'm horribely wrong. :)

I think the Redbacks will do great in the 2012/13 season. Johan Botha will add a lot of experience and Phil Hughes will get plenty of runs at the Adelaide Oval. I definetly think 2012/13 will be an exciting season and the Redbacks will be competitive in the shield and can go back to back in the ryobi cup.

Don't forget Tom Cooper

Phil, if I understand correctly that you are saying that the pitches are so bowler friendly at Bellerive Oval, then I would have thought that the 40s averaged by Cowan and Bailey would be pretty good and indicative of good survival skills.

Nick, I've been missing for awhile and only recently returned to the Roar. Out of interest I checked this story out, again, to see if any reponses were interesting. Don't get me wrong - I was as happy as any to see South Australia win those two limited over trophies. But they're called "limited" for a reason. The short forms of the game are about money, the Shield is about prestige and respect. As much as I loved winning the short titles I'd hand both back tomorrow to win the Sheffield Shield. Seriously, I know we beat WA in 1995/96 for our last Shield win. I have no idea who we beat in the One Day and T20 finals in the last two years. I bet we made some money, though! It worries me that it's been eight years since Darren Lehmann last played Test cricket and we have not produced a Test batsman since. To put it into some perspective there are kids who have gone right through their seven years of primary school and never seen an SA batsman in the Test team. So we are not brushing off the success at the short form of the game but it is a false dawn if we think that success means SA is back on track. It has a long way to go. In recent years we have bought in Klinger, O'Brien, Christian, Botha, Hughes, Lyon (although probably a happy accident), a couple of wicketkeepers and a bowler or two whose names now escape me. We've also lost Harris and Cosgrove and managed to allow Cullen to lose his way completely. Hardly a recommendation. I'm a proud Redback too and still a card carrying SACA member after 26 years in Sydney so I understand you being a bit defensive about SA cricket. I used to be too! Unfortunately it's time we started being a bit critical and not sticking our head in the sand because we jagged a couple of limited over titles.

There are a lot of brilliant comments on this topic, in particular from Bayman. People care a lot about SACA cricket but the same old faces are on the Board. No-one seems to want to talk about the elephant in the room being too many grade clubs causing a lot of junk cricket. What about a system of promotion and demotion? Or, how about merging all of the Adelaide metropolitan associations and having a Premier League system with promotion and demotion across the entire suburban area as occurs with English Football. I am sure there are reasons for not having this system but the current one clearly doesn't work but there appears little motivation to change the trajectory of the failing system.

Hi Bayman, As a passionate Tasmanian, I recall playing grade cricket in Hobart against 'pretty boy Cox', as Mark Waugh affectionately referred to him as. Cox was a good player in good battting conditions, an typical of so many commencing their cricket at or after his time. Good when the going is good, and not so good when wickets/conditions weren't so batter friendly. He also had the blessing of playing at The Autobahn, aka Bellerive Oval Highway at the flattest of its history for most of his career. Probably even flatter than Adelaide Oval which was as bare as a budgies backside. There are so many Shield batters only able to have an 'A ' game in conditions they feel comfortable in. The so called assertive dominance, but NO SURVIVAL SKILLS??!! Hence we have the players representing Australia in England at the moment not being able to cope with a high class English pace attack- I would bet everything I own that Finn will terrorise whoever Australia shackle together to challenge for the ashes next year. Bailey,Cowan, looked upon as National quality batters, who at age 30 odd each, just pass muster with shield averages of just attained 40! I can assure you, there would have been a truck load of grade players in the late 80's - 90's who could have averaged 35-40 on good wickets then, against decent first class bowling. Wicket conditions are crucial in how Australian National sides prosper or not. Currently, like at bellerive, green , damp ,seam friendly wickets, are enabling bowlers of the mid 130's in pace, who 'kiss the wicket' to dominate at this level. This is sooo a false economy about the next level of cricket against opposition like England. I look forward to an ashes series where the tests are played on hard and fast and flat test wickets so there is a level playing field, and the bowlers have to be good enough to get some poles. Next year will let people see and have our cricket structure in Australia transparent as to where we really stand. Phil - Hobart.

I agree that the 4 day perfomances have been extremely poor and this needs to be looked into. It stems from many things. There also needs to be more players from SA playing for SA. However you cannot simply brush off the t20 and OD success. You don't win trophy's just because of two international players or because of the draw. The entire team played outstanding cricket in both of the shorter forms of the game and earned both pieces of silverware.

Cricket in South Australia is suffering a malaise which seems to be affecting every modern sporting body - the rise of the corporatisation of professional sport. As the players want more and more reward for effort the emphasis has changed from improving the game to improving the bank balance. Most candidates for the SACA board these days, when setting out their qualifactions to the members, emphasise their business skills and experience rather than their cricketing ability or knowledge. Of course they all "love" the game etc. but they want your vote based on the fact they may not send the association broke. It is broke, of course, and not in a way that can be easily fixed. There is a culture in Adelaide of the old school tie. Board positions are by divine right rather than by merit. Given that the SACA has not won the Sheffield Shield since famously hanging on to deny Western Australia in 1995/96 one might be excused for thinking that those in power have not been particularly successful in, dare I say it, "pomoting the brand" (how I detest that phrase). Minor success in the form of reasonable results - and even ultimate victory - in the lottery that is limited overs cricket cannot hide the fact that SA is a perennial under-achiever. We have now, as a cricketing nation, achieved the ultimate success of providing countless hangers-on with a job for life - paid for by cricket. None of these people have any interest in changing the status quo. Jaime Cox has provided one example of South Australia's contribution to the corporate cricket. He is famously rumoured to have said that SA had very little interest in curing the ills of its grade cricket structure as long as players could be poached from other states to boost the local team. Is it any wonder that Adelaide grade players feel like they are climbing a very big hill. No doubt there are too many teams in the SACA first grade competition. We have already seen the issue in the VFL/AFL and the NRL. Famous old clubs, established when populations were small and everyone lived within vomiting distance of the city, suddenly become increasingly irrelevant. The VFL/AFL, unable to cope with the inevitable criticism, managed to remove only South Melbourne and Fitzroy fom the fold. One, a complete club relocation to Sydney, the other a virtual execution under the guise of a "merger" with Brisbane. A few other teams have been at risk from time to time but have managed to stay alive. It did, however, manage to create teams in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast which, largely, helped fund the survival of many of those inner city Melbourne teams which, let's face it, should no longer exist in a true AFL. The NRL tried its best to shaft South Sydney, and did for a while, only to have the Bunnies somehow claw their way back in. The NRL have, though, managed to enforce some mergers to limit the damage - Balmain and Western Suburbs, Illawarra and St. George and briefly Manly and North Sydney before the Sea Eagles got the hell out of it and left Norths to their fate. The issue, however, still remains. The SACA has a similar problem. All those great clubs within a stone's throw from the city centre and all those expanding suburbs demanding representation. When I was a kid watching grade cricket there was no Northern Districts, no Southern Districts, no Tea Tree Gully. The problem is, how do you tell Adelaide, or East Torrens, or Sturt that they no longer have a role to play. Or, as someone has already pointed out, University. Still, to be fair to Uni, one player did manage to make a few runs last season in first grade and found himself in the State team. There he was told he had to score off every ball and "assert" himself over the bowling. After failing miserably in the Shield he went back to Uni with the worst batting technique since Chris Martin discovered willow. When I saw him he was leaning so far forward, ready to assert himself, that it was a wonder he could move his feet at all. His coach, the elegant Ashley Woodcock, told me that they had the SACA's coaching gurus to thank for that - and there was very little that could done. The poor batsman did not wish to ignore his SACA instructions - and risk permanent expulsion from the system - but he could no longer make the grade runs for which he made the state team in the first place. Catch 22 and then some. Perhaps if the coaching gurus - from all states - removed themselves from the clutches of sports scientists they might be able to substitute warm-downs, ice baths and dietary supplements for a couple of beers and an after play chat with the opposition. Maybe then players might actually learn something from those with superior knowledge and experience. None of us, however, should hold out breath. As long as "asserting yourself" is more important than actual technique then players in Adelaide will continue to struggle. The gurus, however, will no doubt counter by saying that in the last two seasons South Australia has actually won the two limited over competitions so all that "asserting" has been invaluable. However, as long as the Redbacks continue to embarrass us all in the Shield and as long as they fail to add to the state's list of Test match batsmen I can only say, "Really, who gives a sh*t". Does anyone remember who they beat? P.S. The only Test basmen that I can think of from South Australia in my time have been the Chappell brothers, Phillips, Blewett and Lehmann - and Lehmann was some time ago. Thank God for Martin Chappell and Vic Richardson's daughter otherwise the cupboard would be bare indeed! Ironically, the two players with the most natural talent produced in recent years, Cosgrove and Harris (both from Lehmann's old club), have managed to be put offside and been lost to the state. The next best, Callum Ferguson, has hardly progressed over the last year or two (knee injury considered). I await 2012/13 with some interest as I try to spot the local.

@rsingi for the SACA board. Please nominate.

Agree with your overall views rsingi. Since the mid 90's, the signs were suggesting that: a) too many teams - eg. why does Adel Uni still exist without a geographical territory nor a junior cricket program and culture? b) the state is not capitalising on a good junior cricket program (in many clubs) to convert junior cricketers into grade cricketers. Why? What is being done to rectify? c) we fail to retain grade cricketers in grade cricket - what are the reasons why grade cricketers move to other competitions or retire early? What is being changed to mitigate this movement of talent to other comps? It decreases depth in all grades. No offense to anyone playing or to have played in other competitions, but as you say, it all makes the jump from grade cricket to state cricket enormous.

Well Rsingi, You have made some bold observations that the SACA hiererchy would not like to hear! They are the Tasmania of the 70,s, 80,s & 90's, recruiting try hards. How is it that Cosgrove was dumped, with a career average of 40? When Sa were in dire need of this sort of batting ?? Bailey and Cowan, both around age 30, just average 40 in first class matches, historically a pass mark, and Cosgrove was superflous to their needs??!! It says a lot about the culture, and only the culture....

I totally agree with your comment rsingi. I still remember as if it was yesterday being at The Oval in 96, watching McIntyre and George block out the last few overs to win the Shield - there was a real sense of achievment by everyone, and it was a great South Aussie day in sport. Since then, our Shield sides have been nothing but an embarrassment. This is why i feel obligated to do my part for SA cricket. With the words of the great John Kennedy snr ringing in my ears "at least DO SOMETHING" , I've decided to play my part this coming cricket season and don the whites to try and help SA cricket get back to where it once was - a force!

"They also won the Twenty20 competition in 2010/2011, largely due to the form of their overseas players Kieran Pollard and Shahid Afridi." You are confusing a few things here... Kieron Pollard only played a few matches, which gave them a good start. That other overseas player was Adil Rashid from Yorkshire. And Nathan Lyon had a phenomenal debut season; so phenomenal that it catapulted him straight into the national setup. Check out the batting and bowling records for that competition and you will see that their win was not undeserved.

How many red backs are from other states? Plenty

South Australia need to produce their own players. Or have the majority of the redbacks line up from SA. Perhaps grade cricket is the problem. That is an area they need to look at, possibly reducing the number of teams, and therefore improve quality of grade cricket.