South Australia coach Darren Berry says his batsmen’s irresponsible shot-making needs further investigation following the Redbacks’ four-wicket win over Victoria at the MCG in their one-day cup clash.
The Redbacks were cruising to victory at 0-164 chasing 242 to win on Wednesday night.
However a collapse of 6-48 put the result back in the balance before wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman hit 26 not out from 11 balls to steer the visitors to victory with four wickets and 22 balls to spare.
The win lifts defending champions South Australia to 18 points on the table, one behind competition leaders Victoria.
But Berry couldn’t hide his dismay post-match at the way his middle-order strokeplayers Callum Ferguson (seven), Tom Cooper (13) and Dan Christian (one) lost their wickets with loose shots to short-pitched bowling.
Ferguson was caught at third man and the other two holed out to deep-square leg as the Bushrangers opted for a bumper barrage.
“We had a hiccup through the middle which we need to address and absolutely get some answers there and get better at it,” Berry told reporters.
“Johan Botha (11 not out) and Tim Ludeman steadied the ship at the end.
“Full credit to Cameron White’s captaincy. They were gone and then he did something to try to change the game and we didn’t cope very well with it.
“We played some irresponsible shots in the situation, unacceptable of senior players.
“Cooper, Christian and Ferguson are senior players and for them to fall for the sucker punch wasn’t good enough.
“All that did was put a bit of a scare in the camp. Luckily enough Phil Hughes (73) and Michael Klinger (88) had given us a good enough platform.
“The good thing is that we won and we didn’t actually play at our best.”
Berry is not only pushing Gary Putland for selection in next year’s Ashes squad after his 12-wicket haul in this week’s Shield win over Victoria, he’s also suggesting the left-arm swing bowler should be under consideration for one-day internationals this summer.
Putland, weary from his 12-92 off 61 overs in the Shield game that finished on Monday, backed up with a man-of-the-match performance by taking 4-44 off 12 overs on Wednesday night.
“He’s a class act,” Berry said.
Paceman Scott Boland, who claimed five South Australia wickets, said it hadn’t been a good week for the Bushrangers but strong ladder positions in the Shield and one-day formats had given Victoria something to build on for the second half of the season.
