KEY POINTS:
South Australia missed out on Lou Vincent but they have snared another New Zealander for next season.
Young Auckland spinner Jason Donnelly has won a place as a rookie member in their state squad for 2007-08 after impressing during a stint in Adelaide last season.
He's part of
a 29-strong squad and will hone his skills alongside past or present internationals Shaun Tait, Darren Lehmann, Matthew Elliott and Jason Gillespie.
The former New Zealand under-19 left-armer got one game in the South Australian second XI against Victoria last season and is convinced of the benefits of being based across the Tasman.
"Conditions for spinners in Auckland before Christmas aren't that good," he said yesterday. "Australians are the best in the world so I can't see why you'd want to play anywhere else."
Donnelly's curious route came via a stint in Darwin in the last New Zealand winter for the Tracy Village club. Adelaide club Tea Tree Valley, coached by former Australian legspinner Peter Sleep, got in touch and he headed south.
He did well enough to get that one outing on Adelaide's outer oval, which led to South Australia contacting him recently with the contract offer.
Donnelly, a member of the New Zealand under-19 World Cup team in Sri Lanka early last year, has two spinners with Cricket Australia contracts ahead of him, offie Dan Cullen and legspinner Cullen Bailey. If both are on national duty, or injured, there is the chance of Pura Cup selection.
More realistically, there's the prospect of more second XI opportunities.
"I like to keep things simple and that's probably thinking too far ahead. It's an opportunity to train with the squad, which will be awesome."
But Donnelly's eyes are firmly set on representing New Zealand. He hopes what he learns in Adelaide will ultimately benefit the national team.
Auckland and New Zealand Cricket are aware of his plans and have been supportive. Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel have got dibs on the national team's spinning spots so Donnelly, halfway through a Bachelor of Business Studies degree, figures he should use the next few seasons productively.
"There's no position available in the New Zealand side for a few years. So I figured I might as well use the best conditions in the world to develop myself as a player. It's all really to make me a better player for New Zealand cricket in the years to come."
Auckland's high performance manager, Kaushik Patel, is sure Donnelly can succeed. "He's got the passion and the ability. He's a hard trainer, has a hard attitude and is quite mature in his thinking."