Upon arriving in Queensland from South Australia after eight seasons that gave only fleeting glimpses of the Test matchwinner he would become, Ryan Harris quickly learned how his former team was perceived.
“Andrew Symonds used to call us the Deadbacks,” Harris, now SA’s coach, recalls. “No one could understand why there wasn’t more success because they had players that were good. But they looked at SA as a basket case.
“I’ve heard different things since I’ve been here that potentially why that didn’t happen was a bit of selfishness, and a bit of playing for me and not the team.”
In 2008 when Harris moved, it had been 12 years since the “Redbacks” last won the Sheffield Shield, in scenes of unrestrained glee at Adelaide Oval in March 1996. But the view of SA as a team lacking faith, unity and rigour was already well established – and the drought has now stretched to 29 years.
“Inconsistent and lacking belief,” Harris’ predecessor Jason Gillespie says. “When push comes to shove, they probably didn’t believe to the fullest extent that they could win.”
As a 20-year-old “ponytail express” fast bowler, Gillespie took part in that 1996 finale and the wild celebrations that followed at an Adelaide nightclub part-owned by spinner Tim May.
South Australia’s last won the Sheffield Shield in 1996, prompting scenes of jubilation at Adelaide Oval and promotional opportunities for team sponsor West End brewery.Credit: SACA
“There were a few dusty heads the next morning, that’s for sure,” Gillespie says. “Peter McIntyre still believes he should’ve been man of the match for his saving knock even though he didn’t take a wicket in the game – we give him a bit of grief about that.”
After waiting 14 years since their previous Shield win in 1982, it seemed SA were destined for greater success. Gillespie was the rising star of a vigorous young pace battery, and a talented batting list was led by captain Jamie Siddons, Darren Lehmann and Greg Blewett.
But things fell apart the next season. May, Paul Nobes and James Brayshaw retired, and Siddons overloaded himself by becoming captain-coach after Jeff Hammond departed.
The team was dubbed the Redbacks days before the 1996 Shield final – May once joked that the nickname should have been the “SACA Spuds”, and over ensuing years it may well have been more accurate.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of Jeff Hammond,” Gillespie argues.
“Jamie took on the captain-coach role because he thought ‘I can do it, I’ve essentially been running the team’. But he ultimately conceded how much was required behind the scenes, just making sure things ran smoothly. We all learned something out of that.”
Something Harris noted in Queensland was the closeness of players past and present – a bond arguably forged in the 63 years of pain before the Bulls won their first Shield by beating SA at the Gabba in 1995.
“If you’re a Queensland Bull it is a big thing,” Harris says. “It’s like the Australian team, where if you play for Australia you have a good group of mates you catch up with. Queensland was exactly like that. When you see them, they’re your brothers. I don’t have that with South Australian players.”
On pure population, SA have some excuses for struggling to match the bigger states. But that did not explain the fact that even tiny Tasmania found a way to win silverware more often.
Perhaps because SA is neither the largest state nor the smallest, there was indecision about whether the home of revered cricket nurseries like Prince Alfred College and Adelaide Oval itself should be more aggressive in recruiting the best available players.
Equally, there was the curious inferiority complex that former Adelaide United soccer coach Aurelio Vidmar once raged against after an A-League grand final: Gillespie and others found themselves battling the “pissant town” as much as the opposition. Adelaide is viewed by many of its citizens as a well-kept secret, and plenty prefer to keep it that way.
Gillespie believes the state program started to turn a corner under former chief executive Keith Bradshaw, who died in 2021.
Peter McIntyre became an unlikely batting hero for South Australia when he helped secure a draw in the 1996 final.Credit: Bryan Charlton
He says longer-term views started to be taken of talent, both home-grown and imported. Not least Travis Head, who played more than 30 games for SA before he made a Shield century. Alex Carey was also shown patience.
Towards the end of his tenure, Gillespie, then high-performance chief Tim Nielsen and state talent manager Sean Williams assembled most of the playing squad that Harris and captain Nathan McSweeney have ushered into this week’s final by winning six games outright.
But Gillespie is still shaken by some of the treatment he received from club land.
On one occasion last season, he contacted a coach to say that a couple of that club’s players would be rested ahead of the next Shield game. In response, Gillespie says he copped a volley of abuse, being called a “corrupt c—”, among other things.
“They’re dripping in self-interest,” Gillespie says. “It’s all about their own club, and that was my frustration. There’s a lot of very good people in SA, but there’s people who put their own clubs before the SA state team.
“They claim they’re South Australian cricket fans, but they’re not. They only care about their own club. They don’t care about the betterment of SA cricket.”
Harris, coaxed home to Adelaide from Queensland to be Gillespie’s assistant and ultimately successor, was taken aback by some of the ugliness.
This season has been quieter – partly because the team started the season on a winning note and has seldom looked back. Nielsen’s capable replacement, Simon Insley, has also contributed to an atmosphere of calm.
“I said to Diz (Gillespie) before he left, ‘it feels like the clubs don’t want us to do well’,” Harris says.
“I’ve found out since that that is not the case, but it felt as though at times that was what it looked like. The clubs have been really understanding this season.”
What these games had in common was how hard SA fought to win – something previous teams were unable to do.
“The game in Queensland was the one that really showed the boys that we can win from anywhere,” Harris says.
“I’ve been told by people who’ve been around for a long time that there’s been scenarios in games where, like against Victoria, you lose the top four batters and the game would be over; we wouldn’t stay in the fight.
“There’s just a different vibe around our team that even the Victorian players noticed.”
This is not to say that there has never been any rancour. Selection has been highly competitive. But even then, Harris has been witness to mature communication that helped keep the team united and performing.
“I had a player come up to me around the one-day final who wasn’t happy about a certain thing. He wrote me a big message saying it’s gone against some of the stuff we preached about,” Harris says. “So I let it cool down and said ‘no worries, you have your opinion’.
South Australia’s captain Nathan McSweeney.Credit: Getty Images
“Then he came and spoke to me, he didn’t apologise, but said he went pretty strong. But that conversation, he said he wouldn’t have had it in the past. Things like that are big, where players can approach you and tell you what they think.”
A similar pragmatism marked the team’s attitude to being barred from Adelaide Oval for the Shield final by the AFL.
“When I told them about it, they were like ‘oh that’s a shame but never mind, we’ll just play here and win here (Karen Rolton Oval)’,” Harris says. “That’s the attitude you want. They’re pumped to be playing in the final.”
As for the “deadbacks”, that moniker was laid to rest before the season. SACA president Will Rayner and chief executive Charlie Hodgson retired the Redbacks name – and the Scorpions label of the women’s team – to have the teams known as South Australia. Gillespie liked the change.
“Do you really want a team named after a timid little creature that hides under toilet seats?” he laughs. “I’m a fanboy at heart, I love SA cricket. To see the team and good people doing so well, it makes me smile. I’m going to commentate the final. I can’t wait.”
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