White-line fever: Jordan finds greener pastures in red

Casual viewers of South Australia's final Marsh Sheffield Shield game last summer might have been excused for thinking the Redbacks had reached the point of another winless season where they were forced to recall their long-retired coach, Jason Gillespie.

Certainly, the lithe, lean figure bounding energetically to the crease where he stood steadfastly upright as his whippy action flung the ball from six-foot-plus height bore an uncanny likeness to Gillespie, whose 71 Tests for Australia yielded 259 wickets.

But at almost 47, Gillespie was hardly going to hurl himself back into first-class combat no matter how dire his team's then-predicament.

And closer examination revealed the lookalike quick who impressed with 4-79 in that debut outing against New South Wales at Karen Rolton Oval was Jordan Buckingham, a rookie-listed recruit from Melbourne less than half his coach's age.

Not only was Buckingham's performance pivotal in SA snapping a winless streak at Shield level stretching back more than two years, it helped earn the now 22-year-old promotion to a full contract with his adopted state.

As genial off-field as he is combative with ball in hand, Buckingham smiles when asked about the comparison with Gillespie, who was influential in the right-armer's decision to move west after the pandemic-plagued 2020-21 season.

"I've always prided myself on having a nice smooth, rhythmic run-up and rhythmic action and he was quite similar," he told cricket.com.au.

"He was finishing up (his Test career) quite early in my cricket awareness, but he was certainly someone I looked at closely and watched a lot."

Quizzed as to whether he sees signs of his younger self in his new quick, Gillespie seems mildly surprised by the comparison and instead cites a perceived likeness to former South Africa speedster, Dale Steyn.

That's perhaps because Steyn was much more of a fast-bowling idol to Buckingham when he was young, as were Gillespie's Australia contemporaries, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

However, there's another reason the SA coach and several of his Redbacks' players might see shades of the ex-Proteas paceman – among the most potent fast bowlers in Test history with 439 wickets at a remarkable strike rate of 42.3 – in a young man with just one first-class game under his belt.

Image Id: 6BFDC0FFCB9A4032828B4B6BCF6E69C4 Image Caption: Buckingham has drawn comparisons as a pace bowler with his coach, Jason Gillespie // Getty

Buckingham prefers to characterise it as his preparedness to "get in the contest" in much the same way Steyn's angry eyes became as synonymous with the man himself as his bristling energy. 

Although a couple of Redbacks teammates smile knowingly when they distil down that description even further to "white-line fever".

"I think that's probably fair enough," Buckingham concedes, with a grin. "I think it's more about bringing a lot of energy at the crease, having a presence, letting the batter know that I'm there and I'm in the contest and I'm ready to go.

"Whether that's a word or two, or just getting up in their grille – obviously not too close, but it's certainly something I pride myself on.

"Sometimes I've got to learn to control that, but I just hate losing, so winning is always at the forefront of my mind, and doing what's best for the team.

"Hopefully those emotions don't get the better of me, but they certainly play a big part in how I go about it."

Buckingham found himself walking that tightrope in his Shield debut for SA in the final game of last season, when he got the nod ahead of former Australia ODI representative Daniel Worrall who had already flagged his intention to pursue career opportunities in the UK.

He admits he did not expect to break into the Redbacks line-up in his first season in Adelaide, but upon being given an opportunity to open the bowling with Brendan Doggett he felt it wiser to let the ball speak for him rather than "getting in the grille" of his more experienced opponents.

Given he prides himself on his capacity to produce similar levels of speed and intensity in second and third spells as he generates in his first, Buckingham gained satisfaction in snaring three of those scalps either side of stumps on day one.

He then struggled with soreness in the Blues' second innings (0-41 off 13 overs) due largely to his preceding workload, having bowled almost 50 overs in West Torrens' Premier Cricket semi and grand final appearances in the fortnight before his Shield debut.

But he did finish that last month of his maiden Adelaide summer with a state cap as well as a premiership medallion, thereby vindicating his decision to leave Victoria where he was on the radar for senior honours but could also see a log jam of rivals in the fast-bowling queue.

Image Id: 46535CBD44E24AC8AC950F15FF88A536 Image Caption: Buckingham thrives off 'getting in the contest' // Getty

Buckingham began his cricket journey at Greenvale Kangaroos in Melbourne's north where he was part of multiple under-age premierships in his dual roles as middle-order bat and aspiring quick.

By the summer of 2015-16, the willowy teen had progressed to Premier Cricket fourth grade and within two years was a regular in Greenvale's first XI as a specialist pace bowler.

In 2018, he made the move to Footscray – home of former Australia Test quicks Merv Hughes and Tony Dodemaide (who is also a current men's team selector) – where he cracked the senior starting XI in his first year and represented Victoria at the national Under-19 championships in Adelaide.

That was when Buckingham came to understand the challenges ahead if he was to realise his ambition to play at first-class level, given he took the ball for Victoria behind future state representatives Zak Evans, Mitch Perry and Sam Elliott in a team where skipper Will Sutherland played as a specialist batter.

With Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Chris Tremain and Scott Boland already ensconced in Victoria's senior outfit, it was going to take some stand-out efforts to make it even to the periphery of Shield selection.

Buckingham served notice of his talent when he took 12 wickets at an average of 15.5 – including future Test opener Will Pucovski and rising star Mackenzie Harvey for single-figure scores – from his last five Premer Cricket matches of 2019-20, and was included in Victoria's emerging squad the following winter.

But by dint of his efforts at the Adelaide carnival and courtesy of some scouting by SA's talent manager Shaun Williams, he was offered a spot on the Redbacks rookie list for 2020-21 and the chance to work with Gillespie and SA bowling coach Luke Butterworth was too good to knock back.

"My ambition had always been to play first-class cricket for Victoria, but there was a lot of young quicks there who were ahead of me and there was no indication they were going to contract me at any point," Buckingham said.

"So when the SACAs came knocking it was a no-brainer for me to get over here, and I couldn't say yes quick enough.

"They flew me to Adelaide for a tour of the facilities, and it was all go from there."

The move was made easier by the proximity to his home city which enables his parents to regularly make the 750km journey to watch their son turn out for West Torrens or – as was the case last March – South Australia.

And if Buckingham felt an immediate affinity for his new state, it's fair to say that ardour was reciprocated.

In addition to his innate competitiveness and willingness to work hard, Gillespie has been impressed by his young lookalike's preparedness to adopt a slightly fuller length with his bowling which stands as a point of difference to many other quicks.

"It's something I've really only developed since coming over here," said Buckingham, who describes himself as a natural outswing bowler.

"I used to get stuck bowling that pretty length where the batters play and miss and it looks nice, but in terms of challenging the edge and getting wickets it doesn't really happen as often.

"I'm not out-and-out express pace like Doggett or (Wes) Agar, so I've tried to concentrate on pitching the ball up around four metres (from the batter) instead of that five to six-metre length and swinging it early.

"It's taken a bit of work, because sometimes you get driven back down the ground a couple of times and you think, 'Oh, maybe I should pull my length back here'.

"But my job is to take a couple of wickets up front, so if that means I go for three or four boundaries but get the wicket, then I've probably won the contest in the end."

Even with his revised bowling strategy, Buckingham found the step up from Toyota Second XI cricket (where he took 10 wickets at 35.80 for SA last summer) to the Marsh Sheffield Shield to be challenging, as forewarned by others who had made the same leap.

"The biggest thing I noticed as a fast bowler was that small margin for error," he reflected.

"The size of the 'box' you can miss and not get hit for a boundary just gets smaller as you go up the grades."

Image Id: 8548CDAC487444AAB5B213E3E2703108 Image Caption: Buckingham debuted with Bailey Capel and Thomas Kelly in March // Getty

To further sharpen his skills, Buckingham spent some of the past winter playing for City Cyclones in Darwin's Strike League competition where he specifically worked on his 'death' bowling, regularly landing yorkers and perfecting his changes of pace.

If his return of 3-17 from four overs in his penultimate T20 outing there – with the wickets of state-capped batters Max Bryant (Queensland), Jayden Goodwin (WA) and Corey Kelly (SA) – provides a guide, his aspirations of becoming an all-formats quick might not be distant.

But his immediate focus is the imminent start of Australia's first-class summer and, with Doggett sidelined due to a hip injury, the prospect of opening the bowling for SA against his former home state when the fierce rivals meet at Karen Rolton Oval from October 6.

While claiming it would be "awesome" to retain his place in SA's starting XI, fellow recruits Harry Conway (NSW) and Henry Thornton (Victoria) as well as Agar, Nathan McAndrew, David Grant, Nick Winter and Spencer Johnson are among his fast-bowling friends also jostling for a berth.

Buckingham has settled snugly into life in Adelaide, sharing a house in the beachside suburb of Grange with Port Adelaide Premier Cricket spinner Michael McDonald whom he lauds for not only introducing him to a new cohort of friends and social haunts, but also for being "a bloody good cook".

He's also thankful that, unlike his doppelganger coach and so many of his fellow fast bowlers, he has thus far remained free of stress fractures and other serious maladies associated with the unnatural and unforgiving craft.

Indeed, Buckingham's most serious setback was the wrist injury he copped in a freak accident while undertaking his groundskeeping qualification in Melbourne a couple of years ago, when a string line snapped and the metal peg attached slammed into his arm.

It wasn't enough to sideline him for more than two weeks, nor did it put him off his curatorial work which he's kept up through occasional stints with Karen Rolton Oval grounds manager Trent Kelly when time permits.

And while competition for pace bowling places in the Redbacks line-up has become hotter this summer, with Gillespie observing he's never seen more seamers' depth at any previous time as an SA player or coach, Buckingham is unequivocal he made the right move.

"I love it here," he said. "I've said to people that if I didn't have my whole family in Melbourne, I don't think I'd ever go back there.

"I've made a lot of friends outside of cricket who have just really helped me settle in, and as far as all the other fast bowlers here it's a bit of a cartel we're forming.

"We're all pretty close, and willing to share knowledge.

"There's some experienced guys around, so that's great for us young quicks.

"It's a really close, tight-knit group and we've got big things to come hopefully."