CRICKET
Young Redbacks
to face interstate offers
By BEN HOOK
SIXERS
smashed, Fellas fallen, United undone and the Redbacks
roasted.
It was
a dreadful weekend for SA sport.
The Redbacks' fairytale story has come to a crashing halt, and
has left them with an uphill battle to make the Pura
Cup final.
Now
placed fourth after their demise to
Critical
to the Redbacks fortunes will be a return to fitness
of a number of its stars.
Matthew
Elliott, along with young guns Mark Cosgrove and Dan Cullen, was missing from
last week's line-up and coach Wayne Phillips will be
sweating on the availability of all three when he takes his team to
Elliott
and Cosgrove are yet to confirm their fitness, but Cullen is a likely starter
for Grade side
Should
all three be ready, SA will be presented with a couple of mind-boggling
selection quandaries.
Making
room for Elliott and Cosgrove shouldn't pose too many problems following SA's double failure against the Bushrangers, but Skipper
Darren Lehmann's real dilemma will be whether to
start both his stand-out spinners, Cullen along with Cullen Bailey on a
traditionally pace-friendly Gabba strip.
It's
difficult to imagine "Boof'', who celebrated his
36th birthday on Sunday, leaving out one of his three quicks considering their
sterling performance last week.
What
may further influence Lehmann's thinking is his own
sparkling form with the ball.
His
left-arm tweakers have been decidedly effective this
year, netting him 15 wickets across both competitions.
Selection
conundrums of this type may not cease at season's end, with the word out that a
number of opposition states are ready to pounce on a few of our young stars.
Fringe
players like Cam Borgas, Daniel Harris, Nathan
Adcock, Ryan Harris and Matthew Weeks could all be firmly in the sights of
recruiters eager to fill flagging batting stocks.
Having
placed so much faith in their home-grown youngsters recently, SA's hierarchy will be desperate to retain such an
impressive list.
However,
the Redbacks' salary cap restrictions will see a few
of these guys offered tidy incentives to continue careers interstate.
In the
meantime, critics could do worse than to get off Elliott's case.
Suggestions
"Herbie'' has been a poor recruiting choice for
SA are off the mark and out of line.
Despite
a below-par run production enhanced by his nagging knee injury, Elliott
continues to be a tremendous influence throughout the squad and strong mentor
for our youngsters.
And when his run-drought breaks, expect a flood that Noah
can't handle.
* * * * *
WELL-respected Grade umpire Andy
Collins might be looking for danger money before he next takes to the field to
officiate.
Also a police officer, Collins was
in the line of fire during last week's Glenelg v Sturt clash.
He was at the bowler's end when Redback star Cameron Borgas
smashed a low ball back down the pitch before ricocheting off the top of middle
stump and slamming into his shoulder.
In obvious pain, Collins next had
to trot off the ground to fetch another bail as the force of Borgas' shot had broken the incumbent.
Borgas didn't end his assault there.
Next over he launched a ball high
over Collins' head and onto the mound behind the goals at the northern end of
Glenelg Oval, one of the biggest sixes seen in recent memory.
As the hapless bowler on both
occasions, I was also in obvious pain.