Lehmann looks to country for new Redbacks

Darren Lehmann wants a specialist recruiter to help South Australia draft in talented players who might otherwise be overlooked as the state tries to drag itself out of the mire it fell into last season. Lehmann said cricketers from rural areas sometimes missed out on the first-class system.

"It is something we have to look at, with the way [Aussie Rules] football is going with their recruitment," Lehmann told The Advertiser. "It is something the SACA are probably looking at. It is certainly an idea, there's a lot of good players in the country that are probably untapped and don't come to the city often enough."

The Redbacks, who finished last in the Pura Cup in 2006-07 with only one victory, were keen to sign Lou Vincent, the New Zealand batsman, for next season but Vincent has now committed to Auckland. "We have to look at players internationally and interstate," Lehmann said. "I think Lou Vincent was playing one off against the other and that is just the way he decided to go."

Lehmann also said blood-thinning treatment for his deep-vein thrombosis should allow him to play South Australia's first game of the season, a Pura Cup clash with Victoria starting on October 14. Lehmann was recovering from an operation on his Achilles tendon when he was diagnosed with DVT this month.

"It's a setback but it probably helps the recovery of the Achilles with these thinning tablets," he said. "Now it is a case of getting the Achilles right for mid-October." Lehmann is wearing a moon boot to treat the problems but he expects he will no longer need that in about a fortnight.