Siddons appointed coach of South Australia

South Australia's last Sheffield Shield-winning captain, Jamie Siddons, has returned to the state as head coach for the next three seasons. Siddons will fill the role vacated by Darren Berry, who parted ways with South Australia in March.

The third-leading run scorer of all time in the Sheffield Shield, Siddons captained South Australia in 69 matches and was in charge in 1995-96, when the state last won the Shield. Despite scoring 11,587 first-class runs at an average of 44.91, Siddons played only once for Australia, in an ODI against Pakistan in Lahore in 1988.

After his retirement, Siddons started his coaching career with the Redbacks as an assistant for three years, before he became an assistant to John Buchanan in the Australia national setup in 2005. He coached Bangladesh in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup and has steered Wellington to two titles in the past four seasons in New Zealand's domestic competitions.

"I am so happy to be back home after a long time away," Siddons said. "I'm excited about the list, especially some of the talented young players, and I can't wait to get started."

Keith Bradshaw, the SACA chief executive, said: "His coaching record over the past decade speaks for itself and he led South Australia to our last Sheffield Shield title. Jamie adds a freshness and expertise that will help guide South Australia to long term success. We have absolute clarity of where we're going and 100% commitment to that."

The appointment of Siddons as the coach of the Redbacks comes after the SACA last month confirmed that Jason Gillespie would take on the coaching role with the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL.

He will also be one of four new head coaches of the six states for next season, with David Saker in charge at Victoria, Phil Jaques at Queensland, and New South Wales needing a replacement for new England coach Trevor Bayliss.