Harris reveals mentality driving 'relentless' red-ball renaissance

It's been a long time since South Australia were on top of the Sheffield Shield standings this deep into the season.

It's been 3,254 days, to be exact, since SA were top of the table post-Christmas, when they finished the 2015-16 summer in top spot.

But, with four wins from their seven matches, including three victories away from home, the current Shield campaign is already SA's best since they made back-to-back finals in 2015-16 and 2016-17. 

Since then however, the team formerly known as the Redbacks have collected the wooden spoon five times and finished second from bottom last summer. Their Shield trophy drought sits at 29 years.

But under new coach Ryan Harris, who replaced the Pakistan-bound Jason Gillespie during the winter, things have clicked for South Australia in red-ball cricket, which has them sitting 7.29 points clear of second-placed Victoria with three rounds remaining.

The key to the SA's rise has been their "relentless" bowling attack, which was a high priority for the former Test fast man. 

"My exact words to them through the pre-season were – 'I want us to be the second-best bowling unit underneath the Australian team' – and that's the goal for us," Harris told cricket.com.au in September.

In terms of pure numbers, there isn't much separating the best bowling sides in the competition: Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

The Vics have the best bowling average (26.73) but SA have the best strike rate (55.9) and have the competition's leading wicket-taker, Nathan McAndrew, who has 28 wickets.

Five months on from his bold desire, Harris believes his bowling attack is the Shield benchmark.

"I think we're there," Harris told cricket.com.au following their six-wicket win over three-time reigning champions WA.  

"Teams talk about us now and how good our bowling attack is and how relentless it is.

"And that's a bit of the plan behind what I wanted to try and do with this group.

"They know their roles now and it's just a matter of executing. They've done it pretty well this year."

Thirty-one-year-old McAndrew has emerged as the leader of the attack, following up his 48-wicket season in 2023-24, to lead all comers with his 28 scalps.

His convenience store figures of 7-11 in the second innings against Western Australia are the best figures by a South Australian since Chadd Sayers took 8-64 in November 2019.

But SA are far from reliant on just McAndrew, with one of the strongest and largest pace-bowling groups in the country.

Add Australia A representatives Jordan Buckingham, Brendan Doggett and Spencer Johnson to Harry Conway, Wes Agar, Liam Scott and Henry Thornton and ensuring everyone is getting a game becomes a complex puzzle for Harris and the selection staff.

It's a juggle that so far Harris has got right, with McAndrew the only quick to have played five (of a possible seven) games, with all of the remaining cartel featuring in four games or fewer.

More broadly, just Ben Manenti, Henry Hunt and Conor McInerney have played every match, with SA using 22 of their 26-contracted players so far. Only NSW (24) have used more.

"That's the hardest part of what I'm doing at the moment," Harris said.

"Telling someone that you're bowling well but you're not in the team, that's really quite tough.

"When I took the role on … I got them into a circle and gave them a red-hot rev-up.

"I said, 'selection is going to be hard. There's going to be games where you think you're playing but you're not'.

"That took a little bit to sink in but they've been really good with it this year.

"It's a huge squad mentality, and the boys are starting to believe that."

With regular captain Nathan McSweeney away on Test duties for most of the summer, Manenti has stepped up as interim and has overseen three wins in his five matches in charge.

Harris explained he was looking for "strong, likeable leaders" when selecting his captain and vice-captain in the pre-season, while also wanting to consolidate the leadership group which included up to six players during the Gillespie era.

The popular, vocal Manenti was the perfect foil for the much more reserved and considered McSweeney.

"He's kept the boys honest, he's captained really well," Harris said of Manenti.

"I think a few might be surprised at how good he's been at it."

The inclusion of former NSW captain Jason Sangha has been another big positive for Harris' side with the right hander being the standout batter in both of his two games for his new state.

He began his time in a red helmet with 151 in their nail-biting win over Tasmania before the KFC BBL|14 break and looked the most comfortable batter in the one-and-a-half day contest against Western Australia, scoring 45 and 24no.  

However Sangha, who had 39 first-class games to his name prior to his switch of allegiance, took time to break into the first choice XI, due to a combination of poor form and an untimely bicep injury.

"We were set on our line up at the start of the year, and he wasn't making a heap of runs," Harris said of the 25-year-old Sangha.

"We got to the point where we thought, now we've got to give this guy a go.

"When the boys saw him play against Tasmania, they thought 'wow, this guy's the real deal'.

"Even on the WACA wicket he got 45 in the first innings and got us home in the second innings. He just looked at different player.

"He's got a good defence and he left the ball really well.

"We're very lucky to be able to jag a guy with such experience, but also a great character that fits in really well."

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 South Australia Men SA	7	4	1	2	0	0	4.63	6.3	36.93
2 Victoria Men VIC	7	3	3	1	0	0	4.34	6.3	29.64
3 Queensland Bulls QLD	7	2	2	3	0	0	6.15	6.6	27.75
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	7	2	3	2	0	0	6.41	5.6	26.01
5 NSW Men NSW	7	2	3	2	0	0	6.09	5.4	25.49
6 Western Australia Men WA	7	2	3	2	0	0	5.11	5.8	24.91

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points