South Australia name unchanged squad

Despite their disastrous innings loss last week, South Australia have made no changes to their Pura Cup squad to take on Victoria at Melbourne starting on Friday. The Redbacks managed only 114 and 120 in their last game against Western Australia and went down within two days, by an innings and 55 runs.

But with limited options and injuries to key players such as Darren Lehmann and Cameron Borgas, South Australia have persisted with the same 12-man squad in the hope they will learn from their two-day humiliation. The Redbacks have also named an unchanged line-up for their Ford Ranger Cup clash with the Bushrangers at Melbourne next Wednesday.

The team announcement came as the Adelaide press mounted pressure on senior South Australia figures, including the coach Wayne Phillips, after the state's dismal start to the 2006-07 season. The Redbacks are on the bottom of both the Pura Cup and FR Cup tables and despite some positive signs in the limited-overs competition, where they have won two games, their first-class performance has gone from bad to worse with just two draws and four losses.

Mike Deare, the SACA chief executive, refused to declare Phillips was safe from the axe. "Wayne is the coach of the Redbacks and has a contract to do so for another 12 months," Deare told Adelaide's Advertiser. "Like all high performance and coaching positions, Wayne's role is assessed based on the performance of the team he is coaching and those performances will be reviewed towards the end of the season."

South Australia Pura Cup squad Tom Plant, Jason Borgas, Matthew Elliott (capt), Daniel Harris, Mark Cosgrove, Ben Cameron, Shane Deitz (wk), Ryan Harris, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait, Cullen Bailey.

South Australia FR Cup squad Matthew Elliott, Daniel Harris, Ben Cameron, Mark Cosgrove, Ken Skewes, Nathan Adcock, James Smith, Graham Manou (capt, wk), Ryan Harris, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait.