Redbacks pursue Mahela Jayawardene for Sheffield Shield

Reports out of Adelaide are suggesting that the South Australian Redbacks are keen to lengthen the stay of Mahela Jayawardene in the City of Churches.

They are looking to sign him up for the remaining five matches of the Sheffield Shield season following the completion of the Big Bash League.

Arguably Sri Lanka’s greatest ever cricketer, Jayawardene retired from international cricket after the completion of last year’s ICC Cricket World Cup, ending a dynasty consisting of 149 Test matches, 448 ODIs and 55 T20 internationals. He ended his career with 11,814 Test runs @49.84 and 12650 ODI runs @33.37, with a total of 54 international centuries.

With a fairly relaxed schedule post retirement, Jayawardene was able to travel across to Australia to take part in the Big Bash League in place of the injured Kieron Pollard. After a slow start he has managed to find form with the bat, coming off a classy 31-ball half-century against the Perth Scorchers on Tuesday evening.

Signing international stars wouldn’t be anything new for South Australia, although many loathe the idea of foreign cricketers playing in Australia’s premier domestic cricket competition.

The likes of Sir Garfield Sobers (1960s), Barry Richards (1970), Joel Garner (1982), Jeff Crowe (1982). Younis Khan (2008) and more recently Johan Botha (2012) have all suited up for South Australia over the past 50 years.

Despite having a host of international stars, South Australia have been one of the worse performing Shield sides, with just two titles in 37 years and finishing bottom in five of the past six seasons.

The clear argument against the signing of Jayawardene would be that he will be taking the place of a young South Australian talent, hindering their development at the same time. Young guns Kelvin Smith and Sam Raphael are waiting in the wings and both could do with some experience, but then again could their be anything better than having an experienced star nurturing them in the nets?

At the midway point of the season the Redbacks currently sit in second place with three successive wins. However their title hopes were dealt a cruel blow in December when star batsmen Callum Ferguson ruptured his ACL while training for the Melbourne Renegades in preparation for BBL05.

Could this be the season defining signing the Redbacks need as they look to break their 20-title drought?

Is it fair? Should we be allowing sides to sign international stars in our own domestic competition or is it too much of a burden on Australian cricket’s development?