Michael Klinger has been signed by the Western Warriors on a two-year deal.
Western Australia will be the third state he has represented, after he left Victoria in 2008 to join South Australia, where he was eventually made captain in 2010.
After the retirement of former captain Marcus North, it seems like a perfect switch of experienced players for the 2013/2014 Sheffield Shield runners up.
Klinger said he was not guaranteed a place at South Australia, so he decided to pack his bags and move west.
But what does Klinger bring to this side?
1. Experience
The Warriors have a mix of older and younger players, but not that many in-between.
If we look at the side from last seasons final.
North was 34 along with Adam Voges, and Shaun Marsh is 30.
While Sam Whiteman is 22, Marcus Harris is 21, Ashton Turner is 21, Cam Bancroft is 21 and Mitch Marsh is still only 22.
WA really lacks a core group of players entering their prime at 27.
Maybe Klinger can teach Whiteman, Harris and co. to be consistent performers, because in a few years time they are going to lose some experience.
Michael Klinger has two years to teach these young twenty-somethings how to do it. He has also played over 120 first class games and a similar amount of List A games.
He also brings a mountain of runs.
2. Runs
In 2009 and in 2010 he was awarded the State Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal awards night.
He has also spent time at Gloucestershire and Worcestershire in England. He was picked up by IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011.
His stats are quite good: 128 First Class games, 226 innings, 22 not outs, 7679 runs at 37.64, highest score of 255 and 17 centuries.
He also has 119 catches.
Make of it what you will, he was probably on the verge of national selection around 2010.
He averaged about 37 this season, which included 213 against Victoria.
In shorter formats, his stats are: 122 List A games, 121 innings, 15 not outs, 4923 at 46.44, Highest score of 140* and 11 centuries.
He has also bagged 47 catches.
His T20 record is also pretty good. 66 matches, 1780 runs at 32.96 and a highest score of 108*.
Thats a fantastic limited overs record, no matter who you are.
Klinger said this week he still has ambitions of playing for his country at the 2015 ICC World Cup.
That brings me onto my final point.
3. Ambitions
But, how does he make it into the Australian team with so much talent in the country? It is not an easy task.
At 33 years-of-age, some would laugh, but Cameron White is there and Chris Rogers got a second coming, so who knows.
It is important in the sporting arena to have something that drives you.
Klinger has never worn the green and gold and if he scores runs, the selectors may reward him.
Whether he can actually get there and play for Australia, I’m not so sure. Whether he can bring a Shield title to Western Australia for the first time in 15 years? That seems more of a possibility.
Nudge
Guest
Agree Davros. I think they didn't won't both because they are keen to play the young guys in Head and Kelvin Smith, yet they were happy to keep Botha, which means Zampa gets bugger all cricket exposure next year. Double standards anyone?
davros
Guest
and with Cossie coming back ...maybe he saw the writing on the wall although im not sure anybody should be GAURANTEED a spot .
davros
Guest
Good points Nudge ...I would just say that Agar bunging on a massive total in a last wicket stand is not just confined to first class cricket .
davros
Guest
Im not sure the decision makers at redbacks have planned for possible negative contingencies....and Klinger brought so much . So Cosgroves coming home and hopefully that will work out ...but when he was sacked he had let himself get way overweight and was just coasting ...when he went to tassie it was a wake up call and he had to step up and perform , he was then part of winning 2 shields with Tasslie....so now he is in the twilight of his career and has acheived all he will ,who says he just wont go back to coasting and bung on the weight ...and gee he is a liability in the field. Hopefully Andrew Mcdonald will be allright and he wont break down again ...but he is also in the twilight of his career. Travis head is really yet to impress me , all the talent in the world ...but can he learn to pace himself and patiently build a big innings ? His shot selection is diabolical and weather or not he can make that next step is unproven. Then maybe Hughsiey is back in the oz team for everything and is unavailable , all of a sudden we could be real light on ...and someone like Klinger would be gold . I take the points about Klinger just needing to score runs to stay in the side and fair enough ...also I thought Klinger failed to deliver in a few crucial instances as well and that is why he probably found himself in that situation ...but to swap klinger for Cossie no way in my book .
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
WA offered him a 2 year contract which SACA were not prepared to do. I'd say he felt unwelcome especially if he was told that he wouldn't be guaranteed a place. We have no idea how that was presented to him by Berry after all.
Francis Curro
Roar Pro
Vics have a few older guys, would think they would look to youngsters to fill there team. Maxwell has been in good form, maybe a surprise selection for tests vs Pakistan? We need another tweaker.
Francis Curro
Roar Pro
Yeh never thought about that, they all sort of swapped around. Cosgrove will be good for SA. Add something to that 'steady' top order.
Francis Curro
Roar Pro
Whiteman must be close, as he was named in recent AUS A squad.
Rising Power
Guest
Darren Berry has come out and said that all he said to Klinger was he can't be guaranteed a spot in the team, which is fair enough and should go for everyone. The next thing he knew was Klinger requested to be released from his contract. I'm not sure what Klinger was so worried about, so long as he kept making runs he was always going to be in the team, right?
dan ced
Guest
You already have a Maxy in Victoria currently :P
Ted
Guest
Would have loved to have had him back In Victoria.
Nudge
Guest
I think the SACA were keen to get rid of him BHT because they saw how well it worked last time when they got rid of Ryan Harris. In fact South australia would have won the shield final 2012-2013 if Harris was still in SA. SA needed 1 wicket to host the shield final in the last match that year but couldn't get Agar out, and for memory the last 2 wickets put on around 100 runs to win it. Harris at that time was available for Queensland and played in that shield final. If he was in SA I'm tipping WA would not have won that game. Someone should be sacked from that organisation. Surely surely you don't make the same mistake twice.
Broken-Hearted Toy
Guest
Very pleased about him coming to WA. I don't know why SACA were so keen to make him unwelcome but it's WA's gain.
Dylan Toune
Roar Guru
I reckon it all worked out pretty neatly in the end. Tassie were playing 3 openers so it should be a relatively smooth transition for all teams. Agree he's no North but certainly handy!
Tom from Perth
Guest
He's no Marcus North, but I'm still happy we have picked him up. I'm surprised Cosgrove didn't get an article.
Dan Ced
Roar Rookie
I'm a big fan and disappointed he didn't get selected in any of the Aus teams in 2010, I still think he is one of the more sensible (and useful) BBL openers, his Domestic One Day stats speak for themselves.. and he only a couple of shield games ago hit 200+ for the Redbacks. Last year he was named in the Aus A team that played England, so you'd say he is vaguely on the fringe of national selection, but the recently announced version of the Aus A team was youth biased. I will still be tracking his progress. I actually hope both whiteman and Klinger get into one of the AUS teams in 2014, don't care which one.