Older, wiser Siddons chases South Australia's elusive Shield

South Australia's 1996 champions' engraving was still fresh on the Sheffield Shield when Jamie Siddons declared that he would slip seamlessly into the role of captain-coach. The team's mentor Jeff "Bomber" Hammond was departing for South Africa, and Siddons' brio about not needing a replacement was palpable.

"I don't think I need to put in for it," a 31-year-old Siddons said about applying for the job, a few days before his dual role was announced. "I needed an assistant and Bomber has been doing that with me. Most of the moves have been mine anyway, so it won't be much of a change."

It was actually. An experienced, confident team that had not only won the previous Shield but played in the past two finals, the Redbacks went from first to last in the space of a season. The retirements of Tim May, Paul Nobes and James Brayshaw, plus international elevations for Greg Blewett, Jason Gillespie and Darren Lehmann, left the side unrecognisable at times, while Siddons battled in a job now far more consuming than he had imagined. Unable to replicate the Siddons-Hammond formula, SA haven't played in another Shield final since.

Siddons gave up the coaching gig at the end of 1996-97 and the captaincy soon after, before embarking upon a wandering career that had him a batting assistant with Australia, then head coach of Bangladesh and a successful mentor of Wellington in New Zealand before finally returning to his old role at Adelaide Oval. Asked what he knew now about coaching that he didn't know in 1996, a rueful look crosses Siddons' face.

"What I picked up was don't do it while you're still playing!" he laughs. "It's good to have good people around you, that's really important that you share the load, you don't try to do all things that are required by yourself. The game's got a whole lot bigger than that now, it's got a whole new competition that's come in with Twenty20, there's massive scope for different types of players and skills required for all the contests.

"Put your trust in other people, a good bowling coach, ideally another fielding person and a batting coach. If you've got one of those skills you can do away with that, but you want to have good help around you. There's no magic wand I'm going to throw around, it's going to be hard work and trust in the coaches and players around me that they're going to do the work and the improvements will come."

In his time away, Siddons gathered experiences that were diverse not only in location but also requirements. With Australia he was essentially a facilitator, giving a seasoned team whatever they required. That itself took a toll - in 2008 he sought damages from Cricket Australia for shoulder problems sustained from throwing so many balls - and there was more to be discovered overseas.

With Bangladesh, Siddons worked through a difficult transition, guiding young players like Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal towards maturity. Deposed by a new board regime after the 2011 World Cup, he now looks with some pride at the way Bangladesh are now showing long-awaited signs of progress under the tutelage of another coach with Australian grounding, Chandika Hathurusingha.

When he got to Wellington, Siddons had to deal with a very different dressing room, older and affected by players annoyed at their demotion from the national side. "They had different personalities," Siddons says. "Some of them chips on their shoulders about why they weren't still in there, selection reasons and so on, and it was about getting them in a good head space to get out there and perform well for Wellington, not just for themselves.

"That was more about personalities and man management than forcing skill work on people. They still had some stuff they needed to work on, and there were a couple of young guys who needed the Bangladesh model. So you have to be flexible and that's what we've got here [in SA]. There are some who know their games quite well but I think I can add to that, and there are some young blokes who don't know their games and need teaching every day."

Tellingly, the Redbacks had already chosen to place their faith in youth before Siddons was appointed. Travis Head, 21, was named captain at the tail end of last season, a move that reflected his standing in the team but also a desire for the state to start afresh. Having been a precocious type himself, Siddons knows the importance of working with Head as a teacher as well as a facilitator. He points to communication as one area for improvement.

"His strongest point is that he leads on the field with his performance and I think that's just going to get better and better," Siddons says. "The respect he's going to need from all his players will come from that. I'm helping him out with being the voice within the team, more than him. He's learning to speak and communicate better with the group, that's not one of his stronger points.

"He's really good with the media, not so good with his team, but he's getting better as the year goes by. When he embraces the job totally he'll be really good at it. He's got a lot of really great things to say to me, when he puts that out to the players it'll be great. That's another project that's going to take time, a bit like our performances, and he'll be really good. I'm seeing signs already that he's going to be a good captain."

There is a certain austerity to the Siddons approach that resembles the tack taken by Justin Langer in Western Australia. The two states have much in common as they are dominated by AFL but have also been hosts to under-performing state teams, both in terms of Australian representation and results on the field. The Redbacks have been put through their paces by the acquisition of a former AFL fitness trainer in Stephen Schwerdt, while Siddons and the high performance manager Tim Nielsen - another 1996 Shield winner - have tightened rules on alcohol consumption.

"Respecting alcohol is more the thing, whether it's two or four or whatever it's making sure you're ready to go the next day," Siddons says when asked whether a "two drinks" diktat has been set down. "They know they've got to respect it. We're on the bottom of the pack, we want to get to the top, and whatever we can do we'll do.

"The players have worked so hard, we don't want to blow that with the misuse of alcohol - it can bring you down pretty quick. Alcohol is one thing you can still get away with and not get banned for unless you abuse it a lot and do silly things while you're out. But we want our players to be good citizens as well as really good cricketers, so that's what we're working towards."

So far, SA have shown plenty of evidence that Siddons' approach can work for them. They have beaten WA, Queensland and Victoria in three matches where young players have been tested but come through. A pair of heavy defeats to New South Wales and Tasmania have meanwhile reminded all of what more needs to be done. Nevertheless, a victory over the Cricket Australia XI on Wednesday will take the Redbacks into the tournament finals.

"To win you've got to have confidence and skill," Siddons says. "These kids are serious about their game but they've got to improve their skill levels a little bit to cope with different situations like Mitchell Starc the other day. We didn't cope and that's just purely a skill and confidence thing - if you don't have the skill it's hard to be confident against him.

"No-one can click their fingers and give you the skills to handle that, you need to practice it and have the experience we had the other day to learn. Every time we get beaten like the other day we've got lessons to learn and good conversations to be had with the players, then the next practice session has a whole lot of purpose. That's what I'm getting out of it so far."

Perhaps the best single marker of South Australia's resolve to succeed this summer is the slimmed down figure of Mark Cosgrove, who is at his lightest for 10 years and eager to perform well in the Shield. Cosgrove was omitted from the Matador Cup squad and given strict targets to meet ahead of the first-class season - his enormous talent appears now to be allied to the sort of work rate and maturity that might give it every chance to flourish.

"We're looking forward to having him back in our four day squad and doing good things this year," Siddons said. "His fitness is going well, he's looking and feeling as well as he has in 10 years, so that's a good thing, on the back of a few stern words from everyone and a few key markers we want him to meet.

"That can only be a good thing for his cricket in my opinion, his longevity in the game, which is another thing to look at. Senior player, big influence on our team, and a big influence on the young guys coming into our squad. So he needs to set really good standards for others to follow. He knows that and at the moment he's going about that really well."

Sport has a tendency to throw up strange coincidences and unlikely tales. The one about South Australia's last Shield-winning captain coming back as coach to help win the title again certainly has that sort of a ring to it. Older and wiser, Siddons looks capable of making a better show of things than the first time he had the title of coach attached to his name.