Former Australia pacer Ryan Harris has been announced as the head coach of South Australia, returning to the team where his cricketing career started. The announcement was made by the South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) on Tuesday (August 6). Harris played 27 Tests for Australia between 2010 and 2015, picking up 113 wickets at 23.52. He also played 21 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and three T20 Internationals (T20I) for Australia, ending his white-ball career with 48 scalps in total.

He has previously had coaching tenures with the Australia Men’s Under-19 team. He was in charge during the team’s Under-19 World Cup 2018 and 2020 campaigns and was appointed South Australia assistant coach last summer. He has also been part Australia’s High-Performance coaching program in addition to serving as the bowling coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) sides Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC).

“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,” Harris said following his appointment.

“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.

“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 has been working with the men’s team on an interim basis following Jason Gillespie‘s departure earlier this year. His first match in charge will be in the One-Day Cup against Western Australia in Sydney on September 24.

“We are really excited to welcome Ryan into the Head Coach role. We conducted a thorough search process throughout world cricket. Not only has Ryan excelled in that process, he has done a brilliant job in the interim role over the past few months,” SACA President Will Rayner said.

“With a new Captain in Nathan McSweeney and a developing young team we are really looking forward to seeing the South Australian Men’s side take great strides forward this coming Summer.”

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