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Michael Clarke will play in the first final against Sri Lanka, according to Australia’s stand-in captain Shane Watson

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG02-Mar-2012Michael Clarke will play in the first final against Sri Lanka, according to Australia’s stand-in captain Shane Watson. Australia lost to Sri Lanka by nine runs at the MCG in the absence of Clarke, who has had a back injury, but there were plenty of positives for the side as they enter a best-of-three finals campaign that starts at the Gabba on Sunday.One of those plusses was the form of Watson, who enjoyed some valuable time in the middle and made 65 in his second match back after three months on the sidelines. Watson has captained Australia in the past two matches, for one win and one loss, but he said he was happy to be handing control back to Clarke for the business end of the tournament.”Michael will be fit, which is great for a number of reasons,” Watson said. “To have our captain back and also for me to hand the reins back is great. I’ve enjoyed it [captaining] but it’s nice to be able to have him back.”Where Clarke will bat and who he will replace remains unclear, but what does seem likely is that Watson will stay at No.3 after David Warner and Matthew Wade were reunited as an opening combination at the MCG. Watson has been a long-term opener for Australia in the 50-over format but he said his move to first-drop could become permanent.”At the moment that’s the way things are being planned out, for me to bat at three, which I enjoy,” he said. “It gives me a slightly different role compared to what I’m used to. I feel I’ve got the experience to be able to do a really good job there. It gives our openers that little bit more of a licence to be able to take the bowlers on with a bit more depth in our batting order. That’s the way things are looking at the moment.”Watson’s form was one of several encouraging signs for Australia in Friday’s match. James Pattinson picked up four wickets in his first game back in the national side since the Sydney Test against India, and allrounder Daniel Christian claimed a hat-trick and took his first five-wicket haul for Australia. Christian has made a compelling case not to be the one to make way for the returning Clarke after a solid debut series.”Throughout the whole series so far he’s done some great things with both bat and ball,” Watson said of Christian. “Up at the Gabba against India [his batting] was pretty special to watch, and then tonight, to get five wickets in a one-day international is a pretty hard task, only being able to bowl ten overs. He only bowled nine. I think that will give him a hell of a lot of confidence to know that he’s certainly good enough to be able to be a high-quality allrounder in world cricket.”Another man who won’t be in danger of losing his spot is David Hussey, whose run-a-ball 74 almost snatched victory from Sri Lanka’s grasp. Hussey batted with power and poise, and is the leading run-scorer in the series with 412 at 82.40. At 34, this tournament loomed as his last chance to establish himself in the ODI side, and Hussey has grabbed that opportunity in impressive fashion.”Dave has been absolutely brilliant throughout this whole summer,” Watson said. “To be able to see how cleanly he hits the ball, I’ve seen it so much in domestic cricket, to see him put that consistently onto the international stage, is great for us. We just needed one guy to stick with him for that little bit longer [in Friday’s match], because for him to even give us a chance like he did to win the game showed the quality of his innings.”Edited by Nikita Bastian

Michael Clarke admits he will not be respected until he can bolster his captaincy with vital runs and major victories.

Daniel Brettig18-Apr-2011Michael Clarke is happy to admit he will not be completely respected as Australia’s captain, within the team and without, until he can bolster his position with vital runs and major victories.Important runs and series wins were ever present in the first part of Ricky Ponting’s captaincy, but his power base began to erode from the moment the supplies of each began to thin, culminating in resignation from his post after failed Ashes and World Cup campaigns.
Clarke began his tenure with a handsome enough ODI series win over Bangladesh. But he knows greater battles, and the presence he can gain by how he fights them, are yet to arrive.”I certainly feel like I’ve got the support and respect as a player because I’ve played a lot of international cricket. For me it’s about now gaining that respect as a captain and a leader and I guess the first and foremost way to do that is to have some success on the field, to get some wins,” Clarke told ESPNcricinfo before his return home from Dhaka.”Now is an opportunity for me to get home and have a really good think about what’s happened over the last 12 months and where I see this team going over the next 12-24 months, and how we can set some goals and have some targets we try to achieve.”I don’t really know how the players feel, I guess they’d be happy because we got the result [in Bangladesh], we won and for me I didn’t want to change too many things straight away, it was about coming here, training hard, preparing well and playing some good cricket on the filed. Now I’ve got this time to assess things, speak to the right people and get some guidance and some help, and assess where we’re at.”Clarke’s own batting is vital to the success of his leadership, and on the evidence of the summer’s Ashes series he has much work to do. England’s relentless line of attack around off stump left Clarke either fishing or floundering, and after nine Test matches at No.4 his average is a sick-looking 21.58, with only two half centuries.There remains an observation of Clarke, common among former players, that his batting has lacked the knack for spinal innings in the vein of a Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor or Allan Border. He has played some attractive and determined knocks, sure, but a gap exists in his CV when it comes to match and series-defining scores. In that sense Clarke’s most memorable effort remains the 151 made on his Test debut against India at Bangalore in 2004, something he must transcend as captain.”I think it is important to lead from the front no doubt,” Clarke said. “Probably one of the things Ricky has taught me is that as a leader, as a senior player and certainly as the captain, you need to be standing up with the bat as a batsman, you need to be scoring runs. For me that’s a big part of this team going forward, I’m now the captain and I want to stand up and make sure I’m leading from the front.”In the field, one of Clarke’s greatest tasks will be to oversee the emergence of a penetrative and balanced Australian Test attack, following the ignominy of being made to look popgun on home soil during the Ashes. Key here will be his handling of spin bowlers, a constant source of weakness since Shane Warne retired.”The one thing we need to continue to remember though is we’re never going to get another Shane Warne. He’s one of a kind and I think as the Australian public and the expectation we have with our spin bowlers, things have changed,” said Clarke of a stable including Steve Smith, Michael Beer, Xavier Doherty, Jason Krejza and Nathan Hauritz.”We certainly haven’t got Warney, we’ve moved from that, but I do believe spin bowling will play a huge part in Australian cricket’s success going forward, it’s just about using them the right way, supporting them and getting the most out of what they do.”Hopefully I can set some good fields and show them good faith and support them as much as I possibly can. We’ve got a good mix of talent in the spin area to do a job. Again, they’re not Warney, but I think they can have a lot of success in international cricket.”The Australian team will reconvene in July for a pre-season camp at Coolum in Queensland, ahead of Test and limited-overs tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Tony MacGibbon, who died aged 85, was one of the survivors from New Zealand’s first Test win over West Indies in 1955-56

Martin Williamson17-Apr-2010Tony MacGibbon, who died aged 85, was one of the survivors from New Zealand’s first Test win over West Indies in 1955-56. Only just Sam Guillen, Jack Alabaster and John Reid, the captain, remain from that famous side.A tall, brisk bowler and capable batsman, MacGibbon made his debut for New Zealand against England at Lancaster Park in 1950-51 and went on to play 26 Tests, taking 70 wickets at 30.05, at the time a New Zealand record, and scoring 814 runs at 19.85.On the 1953-54 tour of South African tour he was crippled by illness, but still took 22 Test wickets. His 35 runs in a low-scoring match contributed considerably to New Zealand’s maiden Test victory, while an aggressive 66 at Old Trafford was the highest score by a New Zealander in the dismal England series of 1958. At the end of that tour, MacGibbon remained in England to read Civil Engineering at Durham University”Tony was a hell of a good team man and he had some good figures,” Reid said. “I can’t say we won too many Tests with him, but we did win one and that was the first. I used to pick up quite a few catches in the slips off him.”He was a tall guy, about six-foot five, who used to bowl outswingers nicely. Of course, in those days, it was the old back foot no-ball rule – the drag rule – so as long as you landed behind the wickets you could reach way over the front-foot line and he would have been bowling at that pace from 19 yards.”Speaking to the Southland Times, Reid recalled one occasion on New Zealand’s 1958 tour of England when against Essex, MacGibbon was less accurate. “We were told it was one of the first games that had been televised by the BBC and he opened the bowling and sprayed them a bit. I was fielding at second slip, I think it was, and he hit me on the shin it was that bloody wide.”At the end of the over I must’ve stormed down the other end and he said, `Take it easy, Boss. Don’t go crook, we’re on television’. He was a bit of a character and one of my best team-mates.”

She will remain in India and will support Mandhana whose wedding was postponed due to her father’s health issues

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2025India batter Jemimah Rodrigues will miss the rest of the WBBL season, with her club Brisbane Heat agreeing to her request to remain in India.Rodrigues had returned home after playing three games for Heat, the last of which was against Hobart Hurricanes on November 15, as part of a pre-arranged commitment. She was set to be part of her India team-mate and close friend Smriti Mandhana’s wedding last weekend. But the event was postponed at the last minute because of a health issue with Mandhana’s father. Rodrigues will stay back in India to support Mandhana.”It has obviously been a challenging time for Jemi, so while it is unfortunate that she will take no further part in the WBBL, we were more than willing to agree to her request to remain in India,” Heat CEO Terry Svenson said in a statement. “The Heat club obviously wish her and Smriti Mandhana’s family all the best for the future.”Jemi told us she was disappointed not to be coming back and has passed on her appreciation to the club and the Heat fans for being so understanding of the circumstances. She has been in touch with the players and wished them all the best for the rest of their games.”Rodrigues, 25, scored 37 runs at an average of 12.33 and a strike rate of 102.77 in the three WBBL matches, after helping India Women clinch their maiden ODI World Cup title earlier this month.Heat, though, will be bolstered by the return of allrounder Grace Harris for the match against Sydney Sixers on November 28. Harris will replace seamer Lily Bassingthwaighte after she missed the last fixture as part of her workload management plan.Heat are searching for their first win this season, having lost all their six matches so far.

The spinners combined for eight boundary-less overs that fetched them four wickets for just 33 runs

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-May-20242:16

McClenaghan: ‘Unbelievable’ Brar, Chahar hit the perfect lengths at Chepauk

Chennai Super Kings were left reeling at the Chepauk Stadium as Punjab Kings made it back-to-back wins with a comfortable seven-wicket victory to retain a slim, outside chance at making the playoffs. They have also become the second team to beat CSK five times in a row, an honour they now share with Mumbai Indians.It was a far cry from PBKS’ jaw-dropping success against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) that lifted them out of a three-game losing slump. This time their spinners stole the show, restricting CSK to 162 for 7. After Sam Curran opted to bowl on a sweltering evening in Chennai, Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar choked the life out of the batting, taking two wickets apiece and both going boundaryless for their respective four overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 62 held together a patchy 20 overs.CSK were hampered when Deepak Chahar limped off after bowling the first two deliveries of the chase, leaving them a bowler short. Though Richard Gleeson marked his IPL debut with the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh, 64 off 37 deliveries between Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Roussouw put them ahead of the rate. Both could and perhaps should have seen their side home. But it was eventually Curran and Shashank Singh who waltzed over the line with 13 deliveries to spare.

CSK squeezed by spin at home

To say CSK were stuck midway through their innings would be an understatement. After Ajinkya Rahane finished the powerplay with three successive fours off Sam Curran, the hosts went without a boundary off the bat for all of 55 deliveries – the longest stretch this season, beating Gujarat Titan’s 38 against Delhi Capitals.Full credit should go to the dual spin threat of Brar and Rahul. The left-arm spinner and legspinner, respectively, combined for seven overs on the trot from the sixth to bring the hosts to a standstill. They prised out three wickets to destroy any momentum CSK had after their highest opening stand of the campaign (64). Two of them – Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja – were left-hand batters, as CSK tried to frontload their batting card with left-hand batters to counter the direction of turn of both spinners. Match-ups be damned, it simply did not work.Brar bowled his four overs – 2 for 17 – on the bounce; wicket-to-wicket, giving the odd one the chance to turn, but largely giving batters nothing to work with. Just as it looked like he would be the main man of the double act, Rahul returned in the 19th and went for just three (more on that later), taking out the leg stump of Moeen Ali – another legbreak – along the way to finish with 2 for 16 himself.

Dhoni finally dismissed…But PBKS had him pegged

OK, he was run-out chasing a second run off the final delivery. But the point still stands – MS Dhoni is yet to be dismissed by a bowler at the 2024 IPL. That’s not to say PBKS did not have the measure of him.Bowling spinners at the death can be risky business. Teams are increasingly doing it, but not often as late as the 19th over, or with a wristspinner with the relative lack of experience of Rahul compared to the likes of Rashid Khan or Yuzvendra Chahal.But Dhoni has not been the most fluent of batters against spin for some time now, and CSK make sure he comes late enough not to have to deal with the turning ball. Out of the 37 balls he had faced this season before Wednesday, only three were from spinners.It was a percentage move by PBKS to bowl Rahul in the penultimate over of the innings with Dhoni on strike. Chahar did his job by keeping the ball away from Dhoni’s hitting arc, towards the leg side. Three out of four balls were sent down outside the off stump. The only time Chahar fired one down the leg was when Dhoni tried to create something by moving towards off, and that one missed leg stump by a whisker.

Home comforts for Gaikwad

Who knows how badly things would have gone for CSK were it not for their captain. Gaikwad’s fifth 50-plus score of the season was the only score of note and clarity. It also continued his remarkable scoring streak at Chepauk, which now sees him boast 396 runs at this venue, leading the way for a CSK batter at home in an IPL season. The previous best was Devon Conway’s 390 in 2023, and Gaikwad has one more knock at home in the regular season to add some gloss to that accolade.The first 30 of his 62 came in the opening stand with Rahane, but its demise elicited a mini-collapse to 70 for 3. Gaikwad’s last 17 runs came off just nine deliveries, which included bringing up a 44-ball half-century with the first six of the innings, closely followed by a second.With the bowling stocks looking a little light with Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande missing through injury and illness, and Mustafizur Rahman now returning to Bangladesh, Gaikward and the CSK management have much to consider. Thankfully, the captain’s form is not a problem, though he’d almost certainly give up his newly-acquired orange cap if it meant winning a toss.

Impact dud

A scuffed boundary beyond the gloves of Jitesh Sharma was met with a look of relief by Sameer Rizvi. Not only was it his first boundary – off his 22nd delivery – but it ended the drought off the bat. A new, unwanted record.Now 21 off 22, Rizvi, who was substituted in to replace Rahane, decided to puff his chest out. Kagiso Rabada’s extra pace, he thought, would allow him to guide more deliberately behind square. Across he stepped, bat face offered fully to ramp the ball into the beyond. Contact with the ball was crisp, probably the cleanest he had managed on the night. Sadly, Harshal Patel’s hustle from deep third was rewarded with a catch. The impact substitute has come under scrutiny, posited as a factor for the leap in scoring this season. Here was an example of how it can go wrong.

Australia keeper tips “sleeping giant” India “to potentially win a lot of world tournaments over the next 10 to 15 years”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-20231:59

Healy: ‘WIPL is the next step for the game’

Australia vice-captain and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy has said that the emergence of the Women’s IPL will put a lot of pressure on other global organisations and countries around the world to promote women’s cricket.”[The Women’s IPL] is going to change women’s cricket for the better,” Healy told ESPNcricinfo in long-ranging conversation during Australia’s five-match women’s T20I series against India in December.”It’s probably going to put a lot of pressure on other global organisations, or countries around the world, to lift – that’s probably the best way that I’ll put it. The most exciting thing about it is that it’s happening and that there’s some buzz around it. It’s just going to be great for the game over here in India.”Related

• WPL: Rachael Haynes joins Gujarat Giants as head coach

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• Women's IPL – All you need to know about the bidding process and auction

• Seven IPL team owners among 17 entities to bid for women's IPL teams

• Inaugural Women's IPL likely to be played from March 3 to 26

The inaugural edition of the women’s competition is likely to be played in March with five teams participating. While the count is yet to be confirmed, at least a dozen business entities including several owners of men’s IPL teams, will be participating in the franchise auction for the five Women’s IPL teams, organized by the BCCI on January 25.”When people really are passionate about their [men’s] IPL teams here, it’s a great thing and hopefully they get behind the women’s one too,” Healy said. “It’s obviously the next step for the game and the opportunity for some players to come over [to India] and play in a world-class tournament, at great grounds, and be very well supported is the next stage of the game.”Viacom 18 won the media rights to telecast the Women’s IPL by paying INR 7.09 crore per match for the five years from 2023 to 2027. The teams will be assembled via an auction and the players have a deadline of January 26to register for it. Capped Indian players can set a base price ranging from INR 30 lakh to INR 50 lakh while the uncapped Indian players can set theirs at INR 10 lakh or INR 20 lakh.

Key topics Healy opened up on in the interview:

• The changing landscape of women’s batting

• Her partner Mitchell Starc’s supporting role

• Power-hitting in the women’s game

• Ellyse Perry and GOATs

Record crowds flocked the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and then the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai for the bilateral women’s T20I series between Australia and India last month, which Healy felt augured well ahead of the launch of the Women’s IPL.”The fact that we’ve had some great supportive crowds, just in this series alone [is great to see],” she said. “I am really excited by it. I’d absolutely love an opportunity to be able to come over here and be part of a women’s IPL, I think it’d be an unbelievable experience.”It’s great to see the BCCI get behind it. And obviously just recently they announced the pay parity as well for the girls. I think it’s a great step in the right direction and, and to support a team who, in my mind, is a real sleeping giant in the game, I think they’re going to potentially win a lot of world tournaments over the next 10 to 15 years. And now knowing that they’re well-supported and well-valued within the organisation will give them that confidence to go and do just that.”Alyssa Healy led Australia in front of record crowds in Mumbai•Getty Images

Healy has been part of various T20 leagues around the world including the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the now-defunct Women’s Cricket Super League, and The Hundred. She also played in the BCCI-organised Women’s T20 Challenge. Healy said leagues such as the WBBL, which has now been around for eight seasons, help players evolve, and that playing against international team-mates forces players to work on their weaknesses more than ever.”I don’t feel like I’ve approached [the WBBL] too differently to be honest with you,” she said. “I still go out there and try and hit first ball for six! Nah, I don’t.”It’s been great for our development as cricketers. Being able to play really high-level games more regularly at home, I think it’s great for anyone’s development. It’s not just playing international cricket that’s challenging you, it’s actually a domestic game that’s challenging as well and making you evolve as a player.”You’re playing in domestic leagues, where everybody knows everybody inside and out, they know your strengths or your weaknesses. You’re playing against your teammates that you play [alongside] for Australia. So there’s no hiding. And I think it’s a great opportunity for me personally, to keep developing my skills and try and stay one step ahead of the opposition, and show them some new stuff. So I think in that regard, it’s been awesome [and given me] great learnings over the years.”

The off-spinner took his 12th wicket of the match to seal victory on the final day

Danyal Rasool08-Dec-2021
What might have been a routine win turned into a fifth evening thriller in Dhaka, with Pakistan sealing an innings win moments before bad light was set to draw the curtains on the second Test match between these two sides. Fittingly, it was Sajid Khan who ended the day as he’d begun it – by trapping Taijul Islam in front. It was his 12th wicket of the game, and as Pakistan raged against the dying of the light, they found themselves rewarded with a Test match win, and 12 crucial World Test Championship points.Bangladesh looked as if they might just hold on after all in the final session when Shakib al Hasan – who scored a battling, valiant 63 – and Mehidy Hasan Miraz saw off the first hour of the final session without incident. But Babar Azam – don’t readjust your reading glasses – provided Pakistan with a breakthrough out of thin air as he coaxed Mehidy into a sweep that didn’t connect, Pakistan succeeding with the review to have him trapped in front.Soon after, Shakib, who played two very different innings in the last 24 hours or so, paid for a possible lapse in concentration as he played inside the line of a quicker one from Sajid. There was still time enough in the game, and Pakistan had burrowed their way into the tail. The great heist was on, and even more when Khaled Ahmed feathered one to Mohammad Rizwan. Pakistan were suddenly just one wicket away.At the same time, Bangladesh were creeping up to the magical 213 mark, at which Pakistan would be forced to bat again. With light soon poor enough to rule the fast bowlers out of the contest, Bangladesh would likely only need nine more runs to effectively seal a draw.Taijul and Ebadot Hossain decided against that option, preferring to block their way through until light came to their rescue. A frantic Babar whizzed through his bowling options; while Sajid was a fixture from one end, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Nauman Ali and even Babar himself turned their arm over from the other. But it was Sajid who had the final say as Taijul found himself struck in front, with the review failing to provide the stunned hosts any respite.A sensational bowling performance by Sajid last night was topped up by three early wickets for Pakistan – eight in the innings for Sajid – to bowl Bangladesh out for 87. That meant, with a lead of 213, Pakistan could enforce the follow-on, and the visitors weren’t done yet. Much as Pakistan have done almost all tour, they ripped through the top order, Afridi and Hasan Ali sending the top four back to the pavilion in under nine overs.Bangladesh began the day needing 25 to avoid the follow-on. But Sajid hadn’t finished his first over before he had his first wicket of the day, trapping Taijul in front for the first time on the day. With Dhaka bright and sunny after a few grey days, Afridi was allowed to operate from the other end, and took just two deliveries to uproot Khaled’s stumps, who was forced on strike after a mix-up with Shakib off the over’s first ball. Shakib, for his part, tried to shield No. 11 Ebadot while looking to be reasonably positive in a bid to cross the follow-on mark. The approach wasn’t without its risks, and he ended up spooning one to Azhar Ali at short cover.With the home side now suddenly needing to bat a full day to salvage a draw, they required something conspicuously absent all series – a contribution from their top order. It wasn’t to come, though. Debutant Mahmudul Hasan Joy was done for by a trademark Hasan dismissal to right-hand batters, drawing Joy on the front foot before the ball shaped back in, sneaking through the gap between bat and pad to knock back the stumps. The other opener, Shadman Islam, was trapped in front by Afridi, who had set him up with away-swingers before bringing one in that clattered into his pads.Pakistan were prowling, and it wasn’t long before more wickets fell. Each new ball bowler would pick up one more, Hasan thudding one into Mominul Haque’s pads in front of the stumps, before a brute of a short delivery saw Najmul Hossain Shanto helplessly scoop one up to gully off the splice of the bat.It brought together the two men who contributed Bangladesh’s finest passage of play with the bat all series. Mushfiqur and Liton had batted more than two sessions and added 206 runs for the fifth wicket in the first Test, and once more, they offered the most significant resistance to the Pakistan bowlers. Liton, in particular, did well to unsettle the spinners on a pitch that, with capable batters at the crease, appeared to cast its demons off. There was a moment of fortune for Liton against the luckless Nauman, Ali who drew his outside edge, only for no one to realise it and appeal for caught-behind.They saw off what was left off the new ball, and looked to score off Sajid when introduced, adamant not to repeat the mistakes of the first innings. They continued in much the same way post-lunch, stretching the partnership to 73 before Sajid – who else? – provided the breakthrough as Liton pulled him straight to Fawad Alam at square leg.For once, though that wicket didn’t open the floodgates, with Shakib partnering with Mushfiqur for handy partnership, combining for 49. Mushfiqur battled on while Shakib opted for a more conventional, sedate approach compared to his high-risk strokeplay in the first innings. All of that was overshadowed, though, by a decision to come through for a high-risk single minutes before the tea break. Mushfiqur put in a dive, but his bat had popped up before grounding, and after lengthy deliberations, the third umpire sent him on his way.It would set up that frenetic final session, and in a game where cloudy weather and grey skies dominated the narrative, it was against the Dhaka sunset that the most famous moments of the game were created.

The former Australia batsman has said that players should earn selection through Premier cricket

Daniel Brettig16-Jul-2020South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers would have their cricket programs combined and grade cricket clubs be reduced from 13 to as few as eight under recommendations made by Mike Hussey in a blunt independent review of the underperforming state association.In an executive summary of the review, Hussey stated that a “culture of mediocrity” was deeply entrenched in South Australian cricket, particularly in terms of the steady diminishing in importance for grade cricket over recent years, meaning that clubs feel disempowered while players do not see the need to perform at the local level in order to progress into state and BBL squads. He noted that the current state selection panel was perceived to be conflicted due to parallel roles within the state’s high performance department.Hussey also advocated the employment of a specialist batting coach to support the head coach, to address technical and tactical issues that have helped push the Redbacks to the bottom of the Sheffield Shield standings in each of the past three seasons. At the same time, Hussey has called for a balance “between people who know the SA way and people from outside the state who have worked in successful programmes” in terms of coaching and support staff.ALSO READ: All the Australian state squads for the 2020-21 season“As one of the smaller populated states, depth is always tested and as a result SA will regularly need to ‘punch above its weight’,” Hussey wrote. “For this to happen, the SACA will need to think and act differently in some areas of its cricket high performance.”If the SACA wants to move forward then there must be change. Building relationships and trust from the bottom up and from the top down will require strong, consistent leadership. There will have to be an element of letting go of the past and focusing on the future. Unfortunately, a strong view from the people interviewed is that South Australian cricket has had a culture of mediocrity for many years and acceptance of it has been a barrier to success.