Not the end for axed South Australia pair

Axed internationals Callum Ferguson and Tom Cooper will be afforded the chance to resurrect their first-class careers, but it was their failures in Perth this week that proved the "last straw" for winless South Australia's frustrated hierarchy.

Ferguson (aged 34) and Cooper (32) were cut from the West End Redbacks squad for the JLT Sheffield Shield match against Queensland that begins in Brisbane on Monday, along with seamer Daniel Worrall who was unavailable due to a hamstring injury.

Tim Nielsen, SA's General Manager High Performance, said today that while the selection decision did not signal the end of the pair's decorated representative careers, it showed the Redbacks were prepared to make tough calls to try and end their winless run.

Since unsuccessfully contesting consecutive Sheffield Shield finals in 2015-16 and 2016-17, SA have won just two of their subsequent 18 Shield matches – by five wickets against Western Australia in Perth in November 2017, and a seven wicket-win over New South Wales at the SCG the following February.

Since that match in Sydney 13 months ago, in which Ferguson was captain and Cooper scored a match-winning century, the Redbacks have recorded seven defeats and managed four draws and appear destined for a second successive Shield wooden spoon.

During that period, Cooper has been his team's leading runs scorer with 603 at an average of 35.47 from nine appearances (with two hundreds), while Ferguson has returned 490 at 27.22 from as many games with his sole century coming against Tasmania in Hobart this summer. 

Nielsen said today it was the capitulation at the WACA earlier this week, in which SA was belted by six wickets inside three days, with Ferguson and Cooper contributing 38 and three runs respectively, that compelled selectors to act.

"We have prided ourselves in the last couple of years on being really competitive, and that (Perth result) was probably the last straw," Nielsen said today.

"To roll out the same group just wouldn't be doing the right things for us as an organisation, and also for the cricket fans in South Australia.

"It's a hard call, and it's difficult for those blokes but there is responsibility, we believe, on our more experienced and better-quality players to perform in a more consistent manner.

"Ultimately, this was a chance for us to show that we can't just roll along and continue to do the same things the whole time, and expect things to get better.

"We needed to make some change, to try and spark some team performance and it's turned out that Callum and Tom are the two that miss."

Ferguson, who played 30 ODIs for Australia and a single Test against South Africa in Hobart two summers ago, has been a stand-out batter in the KFC Big Bash League and in the UK (for Worcestershire) over the past year.

Cooper, by dint of his mother's Dutch heritage, has played 23 ODIs and 18 T20 Internationals for the Netherlands and has been on year-by-year contracts since he was cut from SA's list in 2016, only to return and top their Shield run-scoring list the following season.

Nielsen said both players disagreed with the selectors' decision when advised of their axing this week, and had asked for further chances to turn around their form.

But with younger players such as new Shield squad inclusions Kelvin Smith (24) and uncapped Sturt captain Brad Davis (29) repeatedly pushing their cases for promotion, Nielsen claims the panel was left with few options.

Seamer Elliot Opie has also been named in the 12-man squad, as a replacement for Worrall.

"To their credit, they (Ferguson and Cooper) were respectful and whether they agree or disagree, that's the decision that's been made," Nielsen said.

"They were disappointed obviously, and as always in selection when you're telling someone bad news, we don’t expect them to agree.

"They would have liked extra opportunities.

"But we only have two games left in the season, so if we didn’t move now, we felt as a management group that we wouldn't have a chance to see a couple of other players and see how they coped.

"It was a time when we just couldn't ignore good performances at the level below (in Toyota Futures League and Premier Cricket), when we weren't getting the results or the performances we were after at first-class level."

Nielsen, the former Australia men's team coach, claimed the decision to cull the squad's two most senior players was not an indication the Redbacks were looking to make wholesale changes to their player list at season's end.

"As we've discussed with them, it's a reaction to their form in the last 10 or 12 hits and the responsibilities that we place on our senior players to have a greater impact," he said.

"We haven't had a win for 13 games and only two in the last 18 and, as senior players, we just felt that the inconsistency in their performance was one of the major reasons.

"This is not fatal.

"This is us trying a way to spark some team performance, and send a message to our team,  our squad and our supporters that we don’t like not performing and not winning – and not even being competitive at times.

"We just couldn't keep doing the same things with the same group and expect it to change overnight, so we made some changes and we're hoping that will have an impact."

Nielsen indicated that Smith, who has played 18 first-class matches for SA since 2013-14, could slot into the number three batting berth, thereby allowing Jake Lehmann to return to number five with the likelihood debutant Davis would be listed at six.

The finalisation of the batting order for the game at the Gabba, where SA has recorded seven consecutive losses since their most recent win there in 2008, will be made by skipper Travis Head in consultation with coach Jamie Siddons.

Since the current Shield season format of full home-and-away fixture plus final was adopted in 1982-83, South has claimed the title once – in 1995-96, with a team that included Nielsen and Siddons.

In the course of those 36 years, the Redbacks have contested five finals, while NSW have won 10 titles from 14 grand final appearances, followed by Queensland (eight from 21), Victoria and WA (both seven from 12) and Tasmania (three from eight).