Internationals to stay in South Australia
Redbacks lock away key players
The West End Redbacks have taken their first steps to improving on this Bupa Sheffield Shield season’s 3rd place finish, signing Callum Ferguson, Kane Richardson, Tom Cooper and Tim Ludeman to multi-year deals and captain Johan Botha for one more season.
Cooper finished this Bupa Sheffield Shield season as the competitions second leading run-scorer behind player of the year Marcus North and led the Netherlands national side through the group-stages of the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh – averaging more than 55 in the Dutch orange.
Coming off interrupted seasons, Ferguson and Richardson have both represented Australia in limited overs cricket, while Johan Botha captained South Africa in ODIs and T20Is.
The Redbacks’ General Manager of High Performance, Jamie Cox, said the signings were all part of a bigger plan for South Australian cricket.
“We have had a clear vision for this team which we have been working towards for the past two years,” he said.
“And we are starting to see the results of our hard work.”
“We have always said that we are building long term success, not short term glory, and it is fantastic that despite a disappointing end to the season, our players believe in our strategy and many have recommitted to the team for the long term.”
South Australia missed out on what would have been their first Sheffield Shield final in 18 years when they lost to the Tasmanian Tigers by an innings and 316 runs in their last match of the season – their quotient just 0.022 behind runners-up the Alcohol. Thing Again Western Warriors.
Andrew McDonald, Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie, Phil Hughes and Michael Klinger will return to the Redbacks for the 2014/15 season on existing contracts.