Live Update: Ryan Harris sets trophy target and supports Jake Fraser-McGurk in red-ball cricket. The South Australia coach explains his trophy ambitions and addresses concerns about complacency ahead of the 2026-27 Sheffield Shield season.
“Ryan Harris sets trophy target, backs Jake Fraser-McGurk in red-ball cricket”. (Photo by Chris Hyde/) South Australia will enter the 2026-27 domestic season with high expectations after establishing themselves as one of the strongest teams in Australian domestic cricket. Coach Ryan Harris made it clear that reaching the final was the minimum goal and the team was keen to add more trophies to its recent success.
South Australia has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in recent seasons, having previously been considered one of the weakest teams in Australian cricket. They have now won two consecutive Sheffield Shield titles and also won the One Day Cup. The team has further strengthened its squad with the addition of Jake Weatherald, returning from Tasmania, and Matthew Gilkes from New South Wales.
However, Harris is particularly pleased with the progress of Jake Fraser-McGurk and Mackenzie Harvey. “We are definitely chasing trophies, sitting around doing nothing and not making it to the final – that spells failure for me. “We have strengthened our squad and got some more depth with Weatherald (back from Tasmania) and Matthew Gilkes from New South Wales,” Harris was quoted as saying by The West Australian.
“We have some guys who have improved on last year, Mackenzie Harvey and Jake Fraser-McGurk, and we have some young guys who have improved as well. One of our newbies, Douwtjie Hoogenboezem, who comes from WA, has improved, we have more depth. If we don’t try to win trophies it would probably be a failure,” he added.
South Australia is determined to avoid a slow start. South Australia didn’t have an ideal start to the Sheffield Shield season last season, losing their first two games. However, Harris and his coaching staff quickly recognized the problem and resolved it within the group. The team then went undefeated from mid-October until the end of the season, eventually winning another Shield title.
“Last year was a lesson for me, we didn’t get off to a good start, a little bit of frustration crept into the group,” Harris said. “I kind of recognized that with our coaching staff and we addressed it head on. We discussed it with the group, it wasn’t going to hpen.
We realize that now everyone knows what the feeling of winning feels like. We want to keep that,” Harris noted. “We make sure we talk about it and if I see the players not doing something I call them out and the players do the same thing – they call each other out too. There is no big goal, but in the background we are working on improving. Ryan Harris is backing Jake Fraser-McGurk to push for the red spot. Harris also expects strong competition for places in the South Australian squad, particularly in the batting group.
One player who has impressed the coach in pre-season is Fraser-McGurk. The explosive batsman has worked hard on his game over the winter and now hopes to establish himself in both red-ball and white-ball cricket. “(Fraser-McGurk) has been outstanding this preseason, he has matured a lot this winter and has worked very, very hard on his game,” Harris said.
“The reason he doesn’t play the second one He is here this winter and has had time to work on his game with our hitting coach Steven Stubbings. As I said, he has shown a lot of maturity in his game and is extremely fit and extremely strong as a person. » “He’s still pushing, he wants to play red-ball cricket.
Again, we have to try to find places for all these batsmen. He played very well in the one-day game. I just saw him hit the nets, he hits very, very well.
“I hope that depending on how he develops he will be promoted to the red ball team at some point, but his form with the white ball is really good,” he concluded. South Australia will return to Junction Oval on Wednesday October 7 to face Victoria in a rematch of last season’s Sheffield Shield final.
