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Cosgrove hails 'special' Tigers team

'We thought we could beat the Australian side'

Mark Cosgrove has revealed the Tasmania Bupa Sheffield Shield team he played for was at one point so strong they believed they could beat the Test side of the same period.

Tasmania won the Shield title in the 2012-13 season, and boasted a line-up that included young gun Jordan Silk, Cosgrove, George Bailey, Alex Doolan, Tim Paine, James Faulkner, Ben Hilfenhaus and the legendary Ricky Ponting.

“If you look at the Tasmania side, it’s full of Australian players now,” he told The Advertiser.

“In the (2012-13) Shield final, we thought we could beat the Australian side with the team we had. “So to play in a team like that was pretty special.”

The left-hander dismissed suggestions that runs in Tasmania were looked upon more favourably by national selectors than those made on the traditionally flat Adelaide Oval, where he returns this season after his stint on the Apple Isle.  

“Coming home to SA, there’s no disadvantage,” he added. “If I make runs here, it’s the same as making runs at Bellerive.

“If you make runs, you make runs.”

Cosgrove, 30, insisted he feels no animosity coming back to the state that pushed him out earlier in his career.

“Maybe for the first year, but not for me coming home,” he said. “You never really want to leave, especially when you think you’ve given everything for your state and you’re asked to leave.

“But I think I’m a better player for going to Tassie. Three or four years down the track it’s water under the bridge. You move on.”

Cosgrove was also forthright when asked of the Redbacks’ expectations for the 2014-15 season.

“To be in a Shield final and to host a Shield final,” he said.

“Looking at last year’s results, if they win against NSW and get a few points against Tassie in the last couple of games, they’re there.

“So I’ve got no fear that we can relive that and be better.”