Siddons set to coach South Australia

Jason Gillespie’s decision not to take over the reins with South Australia has opened the door for his former Redbacks teammate and fellow member of the globetrotting cricket coaches’ club, Jamie Siddons to assume the role.

Siddons, who served as John Buchanan’s assistant with the Australia team a decade ago before coaching Bangladesh from 2007-2011 and more recently the Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand, will reportedly be confirmed as coach of the West End Redbacks in coming weeks.

The South Australian Cricket Association today declined to comment on reports in News Ltd newspapers that Siddons will take on the job previously held by fellow Victorian Darren Berry with the State’s Bupa Sheffield Shield and Matador Cup teams.

Gillespie, who continues to firm as favourite for the vacant England coaching job with reports that rival candidate Gary Kirsten has indicated he would prefer either the Test or one-day role but not both, was understood to be the SACA’s preferred candidate when the search began.

However, Gillespie advised them earlier this month that he would not be making himself available even though he had signed to coach the Adelaide Strikers in the KFC T20 Big Bash League for the next two years.

It is believed there is a clause in his contract that would release him from his BBL obligation should he take up an international position.

If that was the case, Siddons would not be asked to extend his coaching duties to include the T20 franchise, The Advertiser in Adelaide reported today.

Siddons was captain of the SA team, which also included a pony-tailed, 20-year-old Gillespie, that won the Sheffield Shield in 1995-96 after holding out doggedly for an epic final-day draw against Western Australia.

It remains the State’s sole success in the six-team domestic first-class competition for the past 35 years, and the SACA has established an exhaustive recruiting process to try and find a coach who is able to address that imbalance.

In contrast to his flamboyant, counter-attacking batting style that carried him to third place on the list of all-time highest Shield run scorers, Siddons is renowned as a no-nonsense, straight-talking coach who demands high standards of his charges.

During his tenure with an under-manned Bangladesh outfit he led them to a 4-0 ODI whitewash over New Zealand in 2010 and an historic World Cup triumph over England the following year.

After Siddons replaced another Australian, Dav Whatmore (currently coaching Zimbabwe), at the helm, Bangladesh won 31 of their 81 ODIs and two of their 19 Test matches – both against the West Indies in the Caribbean in 2009.

However, his contract was not renewed when Bangladesh failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, of which they were a co-host.

When he took over the Wellington job from former Australia seamer Anthony Stuart in 2011, the Firebirds had spent two years on the bottom rungs of the ladder in all three formats of the game but he then lifted them to trophy wins in the domestic 50-over and T20 competitions.

Siddons has also played an integral role in honing the batting talents of Wellington pair Grant Elliot and Luke Ronchi, who were instrumental in New Zealand reaching the final of the 2015 ICC World Cup against Australia.

The appointment of a senior coach to replace Berry, whose tenure in Adelaide included the 2010-11 KFC T20 Big Bash title and the domestic 50-over crown the following year, formed part of an extensive review of the SACA’s cricket operations.

The panel appointed to conduct that process included former Australia Test vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, ex-AFL premiership captain and coach David Parkin, Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager of Team Performance Pat Howard and SACA High Performance Manager Tim Nielsen.

Nielsen, who succeeded Buchanan as Australia coach, was also a member of SA’s most recent Sheffield Shield-winning team along with incumbent Australia coach Darren Lehmann and national fielding coach Greg Blewett.

Siddons, who described the Shield win as the greatest moment of his sporting career that included one ODI appearance for Australia and two matches for the Sydney Swans in the AFL, played his most significant if uncharacteristic innings on that tense final day at Adelaide Oval.

Hobbled by a hip injury that rendered him virtually immobile, the naturally attacking stroke-maker batted almost three hours and registered a solitary scoring shot from the 134 balls he faced before SA’s last pair Peter McIntyre and Shane George held on for an hour to secure a draw.

It’s that level of competitiveness and resolve that the SACA will be hoping the 51-year-old brings to a team that has not reached a Shield final since their 1995-96 success.

All other states have reached the play-off match on at least five occasions in that time, with Queensland contesting 13.