Redbacks bolster pace stocks with interstate duo

South Australia have looked interstate to bolster their pace-bowling stocks for next season after the departure of four experienced seamers in the past 18 months.

It's understood NSW-born seamers Harry Conway and Henry Thornton have signed with the Redbacks for 2022-23 following the departures of Daniel Worrall (who signed a long-term county deal with Surrey as a domestic player), Joe Mennie (retired) and Kane Richardson (who has moved to the Gold Coast with his family).

SA’s third highest wicket-taker of all-time with 279 Sheffield Shield wickets, Chadd Sayers, also retired at the end of the 2020-21 season.

Rookie right-armer Jordan Buckingham is also in line for an upgrade to a full contract after making his first-class debut in the last game of the Marsh Sheffield Shield season, where he collected 4-79 in the first innings as South Australia won their first match in more than two years.

Buckingham was also recruited from interstate on a rookie deal ahead of the 2021-22 season after impressing with Victorian Premier club Footscray.

The Redbacks will be hoping the addition of Conway and Thornton to partner Brendan Doggett and Nathan McAndrew, who were recruited from interstate last season, can lift them off the bottom of the Shield table, where they have spent the past five seasons.

Both Conway and Thornton will be familiar with South Australian fans having played for the Adelaide Strikers in the KFC BBL.

Conway has played with the club since 2019-20 and collected nine wickets in nine matches in BBL|11, which included defending 14 off the final over against the Sydney Thunder to get them into the penultimate game of the season.

The 29-year-old right-armer has played 38 first-class matches across six seasons at the Blues, which included appearances for a Cricket Australia XI against England and Australia A against the Indians, with a return of 96 wickets at 28.26.

But the resurgence of Chris Tremain and development of young left-armer Hayden Kerr last summer may have been the catalyst for the former Australia Under-19 representative to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Thornton, who hails from Sydney's southern suburbs, moved to Melbourne to play Premier Cricket with St Kilda ahead of the 2020-21 season.

He played four Marsh Cup games with Victoria during the 2021-22 summer and was awarded the Dean Jones Medal as their one-day player of the year before being enticed west by the Redbacks.

The 25-year-old right-armer is yet to make his first-class debut but also featured in an under-19 Test and ODI series against England in April 2015.

He played seven matches for the Strikers during BBL|11, claiming 13 wickets at 15.92.

South Australia are expected to confirm their men’s and women’s contract lists for the 2022-23 season next week.