South Australia cricket team


The South Australia cricket team, named West End Redbacks, nicknamed the ’Southern Redbacks’, is an Australian men's professional first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The Redbacks play their home matches at Adelaide Oval and are the state cricket team for South Australia, representing the state in the Sheffield Shield competition and the limited overs Marsh One-Day Cup. Their Marsh One-Day Cup uniform features a red body with black sleeves. They are known as the West End Redbacks due to a sponsorship agreement with West End. The Redbacks formerly competed in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, but were succeeded by the Adelaide Strikers in 2011 because this league was replaced with the Big Bash League.

History

The earliest known first-class match played by South Australia took place against Tasmania on the Adelaide Oval in November 1877. In 1892–93 they joined New South Wales and Victoria and played the inaugural Sheffield Shield season. South Australia won the Shield in just their second attempt. They have won the competition 13 times in total while they have twice won the One Day tournament now known as the Ryobi One Day Cup. They are also the current holders of the KFC 20/20 Big Bash trophy, defeating NSW in the 2010/11 final at Adelaide Oval. They will continue to hold the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash trophy as the league is now defunct and has been replaced by the Big Bash League.
Over the years many successful international cricketers have played for South Australia.
Clarrie Grimmett played with them during the 1920s and 30s, taking a total of 668 wickets which remains a state record. In 1934 Donald Bradman joined the club after originally playing with New South Wales, and started with scores of 117, 233 and 357 in his first three innings. Others include the Chappell brothers, David Hookes, Darren Lehman,Gil Langley, Jason Gillespe and Terry Jenner.
South Australia have also imported cricketers to play for them, the most famous being Gary Sobers who appeared in three seasons during the early 1960s and Barry Richards. Richards played just one season with South Australia but managed to set a state record for most runs in a season, making 1538 runs in 1970–71.

Honours

Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup
One-day Cups
KFC Twenty20 Big Bash/Big Bash League
Players with international caps are listed in bold.

First-class records

Most runs for South Australia
NameSeasonsMatchesInnsNORunsHSAve100500
Darren Lehmann1987–20071192181411622301*56.97394114
Greg Blewett1991–200611722313968226846.10234815
David Hookes1975–199212020599364306*47.77264414
Ian Chappell1962–198089157137665205*53.2222459
Neil Dansie1950–19671071966669218535.2217329
Andrew Hilditch1982–19929116111650423043.36173210
Clem Hill1894–19236812666270365*52.2518275
Peter Sleep1977–1993127211376106146*35.09122917
Vic Richardson1919–1937771467602720343.3518277

Highest individual score:
Most centuries:
Most runs in a season:
Highest partnership:
Highest team score:
Most wickets for South Australia
PlayerWicketsSeasons
Clarrie Grimmett6681924/25 – 1940/41
Ashley Mallett4151967/68 – 1980/81
George Giffen4111877/78 – 1903/04

Most wickets in a season:
Most wickets in an innings:
Most wickets in a match: