Cosgrove awaits Shield opportunity

He missed selection in South Australia’s Matador Cup squad and last played for Australia in 2006, but Mark Cosgrove might just be in the form of his career.

Cosgrove, the South Australian batsman with the rotund physique that saw him compared with legendary Redback and national coach Darren Lehmann when he first arrived on the first-class scene, finished this year’s County Championship in excellent touch with strugglers Leicestershire, scoring three centuries and a 94 in his final five matches of the season.

That hot streak, plus a new outlook when it comes to diet and fitness, have the 31-year-old down to 90kg and looking to impress if given the chance in this summer’s Sheffield Shield season, beginning October 28.

Quick Single: In-form Ferguson eyes national recall

“We (Leicestershire) played some really consistent cricket in the last six weeks while I am hitting the ball really well,” Cosgrove told News Ltd.

“It was just trying to lead by example at Leicester in the gym and out in the middle. I’ve been doing a lot of bike-riding and watching the diet. I feel the best I have in 10 or 11 years.

“It is the lightest I have been since playing for Australia in 2006.”

The left-hander, who this season captained Leicestershire for the first time, also became a father during the county season, to baby boy Oliver.

Quick Single: South Australia team preview

“With Oliver you get up two hours earlier and fit more into your day,” said the man who played three ODIs back in 2006 and averages 42.32 across 154 first-class matches.

Speaking with FIVEaa radio last week, Lehmann nominated Cosgrove as a player capable of setting the Matador Cup alight with his destructive stroke-play.

The national coach made mention of the batsman’s new levels of fitness, which have also come about as a result of the Redbacks’ signing of former AFL player Stephen Schwerdt as the state’s strength and conditioning coach.

“Mark Cosgrove has lost a heap of weight,” Lehmann said. “He could set the house on fire and put himself in contention (for Australian selection).”

Quick Single: Matador Cup: All you need to know

But Cosgrove was in fact omitted from the Redbacks squad, who have continued their policy of pushing towards a new generation of cricketers, with Lehmann’s son Jake and allrounder Tom Andrews among the youngsters selected in the squad.

The veteran also did himself no favours in last summer's tournament, scoring just nine runs in four innings before being dropped.

It leaves Cosgrove on the outer, though the left-hander, who has batted in various positions in the order throughout his career, still has the Shield season in which he can look to reignite his claims for higher honours.

In nine Shield games last summer, he scored 686 runs at 40.35 with one century and five fifties, behind only Callum Ferguson (836 runs) among the Redbacks players for runs scored.