One Day Cup 2014 Preview: South Australia

In our series previewing the upcoming Domestic One Day tournament, we turn our attention to the South Australia Redbacks and their chances and aspirations for this year’s One Day Domestic Cup.

Last year the Redbacks finished dead last on the table, only recording a single win out of their six games. The victory came against Western Australia, who also occupied the bottom end of the table.

In their other games they never looked in the fight. The Redbacks were led by Michael Klinger who ended up being the fourth highest run scorer for the whole tournament.

Andrew McDonald and Tom Cooper also chipped into the lost cause while skipper Johan Botha did everything he could, but it simply wasn’t enough for the Redbacks.

This year shouldn’t be anywhere near as bad for the Redbacks. They have a developing squad that is on the up. It is fair to say they underperformed last season..

Another area that will help them is that they will not lose any players, apart from Phil Hughes, for international series against Pakistan in the UAE. Hughes will be back for South Australia for the second half of the tournament, which means they will basically have their whole squad to choose from for this competition.

If they all play to their potential and coach Darren Berry gets his selections right, they could be a genuine contender to make the top three

The loss of Michael Klinger to the Western Australia Warriors is a pretty major one for the Redbacks. He was far and away their best player in last year’s series. They have signed Michael Cosgrove, but it is very questionable whether he is a suitable replacement for Klinger.

Probable Best XI
1. Phil Hughes
2. Mark Cosgrove
3. Tom Cooper
4. Callum Ferguson
5. Travis Head
6. Andrew Mcdonald
7. Tim Ludeman (wk)
8. Johan Botha (c)
9. Kane Richardson
10. Adam Zampa
11. Chadd Sayers

Players to Watch
Tom Cooper: Cooper had a pretty good season last year. He was in the top-10 run-scorers for the comp and was South Australia’s second highest run scorers scoring 294 runs at an average of 49.00 with a strike rate at 82.81.

If South Australia are to have a strong season they will be looking to him to provide a massive piece of the puzzle.

Phil Hughes: Hughes has been in some brilliant form so far this summer, firstly for Australia A, where he made a double century in a one day game and then he continued that over to his opportunities in the tri series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Even though Hughes misses the first few games for the Redbacks, they will be looking to him to provide them with something else when he comes back from the One Day Series against Pakistan.

Major Strength
Top order batting is South Australia’s major strength particularly once Phil Hughes gets back from his Australian duties. With the likes of Cooper, Cosgrove and Ferguson they could go a long way to getting South Australia some wins in this tournament.

Major Weakness
The only half weakness in the South Australian side is their middle order batting. Travis Head is still developing and Mcdonald and Ludeman can be a little bit inconsistent with the bat. However if they perform South Australia have a very strong side.

Full Fixture List
Game 1: New South Wales versus South Australia fourth October @ Allan Border Field (Start time 9:30am)
Game 2: Victoria versus South Australia sixth October @ The Gabba (Start time 1:00pm)
Game 3: South Australia versus Western Australia eighth October @ The Gabba (Start time 9:30am)
Game 4: South Australia versus Queensland 12th October @ Allan Border Field (Start time 9:30am)
Game 5: South Australia versus Tasmania 15th October @ Bankstown Oval (Start time 10:00am)
Game 6: Western Australia versus South Australia 17th October @ Bankstown Oval (Start time 10:00am)
Game 7: Tasmania versus South Australia 2second October @ North Sydney (Start time 10:00am)

Series Prediction
South Australia with their very decent squad and two games against Western Australia and Tasmania should be able to go quite well in this series. For them it will all come down to consistency but they are a shot at making the top three

South Australia are one of the dark horses for the competition if they can perform – but that remains to be seen.