Pieces falling into place for Redbacks

The West End Redbacks have added a couple more pieces to their 2014/15 puzzle, signing young guns Travis Head and Kelvin Smith to multi-year deals.

Both batsmen are considered key components in South Australia’s bid to break an 18-year Bupa Sheffield Shield final drought.

Head notched four half-centuries in his first season as a fully contracted Redbacks player, with three of those knocks ending in the 90s.

“Travis has been part of the squad for a few years now and is beginning to gain the understanding and maturity required to be a first-class batsman,” said General Manager High Performance, Jamie Cox.

“He is eager to learn and improve and we hope he can continue to build on his performances in 2013-14.”

A member of Australia’s U19 World Cup team, Smith was propelled into the Sheffield Shield side thanks to solid numbers in the Toyota Futures League, the 19-year-old reaching his maiden first-class half-century against Western Australia in a match-winning 93-run partnership with Head.

“Kelvin is a young player on the rise,” said Cox.

“And we believe he will mature into an outstanding first-class batsman for the West End Redbacks.

“We are excited that Kelvin will continue his development here in Adelaide.”

The twin retentions come on the back of South Australia’s re-signing of veterans Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Kane Richardson and Tim Ludeman to multi-year deals and skipper Johan Botha to one more year.

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Head and Smith will both play in the Cricket Australia National Performance Squad set to compete in this winter’s quad-series between Australia A, India A and South Africa A.