South Australia name Ryan Harris as new men’s head coach

Former Australian player Ryan Harris. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

In a major development for South Australia, 44-year-old former Australia cricketer Ryan Harris has been named the new head coach of the South Australia men’s cricket team. He will be filling in the role that was vacated by former cricketer Jason Gillespie’s departure.

Harris had been leading the team in an interim capacity for the last few months, and he will be taking over full-time immediately as pre-season ramps up. Furthermore, there is yet to be news about who will become Adelaide Strikers’ BBL head coach, which was a role that Gillespie held as well.

According to reports, former Australia skipper Tim Paine has shown interest in the Strikers’ role, should that be the case. After the announcement of Ryan Harris becoming South Australia’s new coach was made, the 44-year-old came forward to talk about the appointment and expressed his excitement over how excited he is to take over the role.

“I’m thrilled and honoured to be appointed Head Coach of South Australia where I began my first-class playing journey more than 20 years ago. Having worked closely with the team last summer and during our current pre-season training, I know what this squad is capable of and can’t wait to get started and build on the positive steps we saw last year,” Ryan Harris was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“Under new captain Nathan McSweeney, there is a real sense of self-belief among the group and we’ll be working hard to ensure we hit the ground running with the new season rapidly approaching,” he added.

It is worth noting that in the previous season, South Australia finished fifth in the Sheffield Shield; furthermore, they finished in fourth place in 2022–23. Speaking of Harris, the former cricketer moved into coaching, with his stint beginning with Australia men’s under-19 team at the 2018 and 2020 World Cups.

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He has also worked in the IPL with Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals, alongside stints as a consultant with the men’s team while Justin Langer was coach.