The best cricket move Michael Klinger ever made was switching from Victoria to South Australia for the 2008-09 season. He immediately sparked with the Redbacks and quickly became a batsman as consistent as Darren Lehmann or Greg Blewett, two former local favourites. The performances were so strong that he was appointed captain for two seasons and often mentioned for higher honours but was never given a chance at the highest level.

It took Klinger seven years to fulfil his promise with a maiden first-class century with Victoria in 2005-06 and he built on that progress the following season when he was state's leading one-day run-scorer. But 2007-08 was tougher and he decided to head west. In his first campaign with South Australia he stormed to 1203 runs at 70.76, with four hundreds and a best of 255 against Western Australia, and backed that up with 886 at 63.28 a year later - that haul included 207 not out against his old state on his former home ground.

A technically-correct stylist with a reluctance to hit over the top, Klinger showed he could change pace in the limited-overs forms with solid averages in one-day cricket, although he took time to be given an opportunity in T20. It made his elevation to captain a bit strange, since his first engagement in charge was the Champions League Twenty20. But he adapted and went on to play for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL.

His captaincy provided some success with South Australia winning the 2010-11 Big Bash and 2011-12 Ryobi One Day Cup but also oversaw two of three consecutive wooden spoons in the Sheffield Shield. He was replaced by South African Johan Botha for the 2012-13 season. Klinger slipped back into the ranks with solid performances across all formats but left for Western Australia at the end of the season.

Klinger's ability was tapped by Gloucestershire who appointed him captain in 2013. He enjoyed an outstanding first season in the UK with over 2000 runs across all formats and was welcomed back for the next two seasons, without quite reaching the levels of his first year.

Klinger enjoyed a decorated start to his career - he was the youngest player to score a first-grade century in Melbourne and captained the Australia Under-19 team. A few years later he also hit the headlines after Paul Reiffel amazingly declared in Hobart when Klinger was on 99.
ESPNcricinfo staff