Klinger claims consecutive cricket crowns
SOUTH Australian batsman Michael Klinger has been named the State Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.
ADAM KAMIEN
SOUTH Australian batsman Michael Klinger has been named the State Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Won the award at the Allan Border Medal presentation at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium on Monday night.
The 29-year-old won the award at the Allan Border Medal presentation at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium last week where he finished with 36 votes, seven clear of his closest rival Chris Rogers on 29, with former teammate at the Bushrangers Brad Hodge two further back on 28.
Klinger has enjoyed a sparkling season to date, and is the second leading run-getter in the Sheffield Shield.
“I made a big effort after last season to back it up again and not be a one-year wonder and that was one of my determinations this season. And so far, so good,” Klinger told The AJN.
But it was a tumultuous start to the season, with Klinger dropped for the Redbacks’ first limited overs game and scoring a first-ball duck on his return.
It was a similar story in the four-day game, with the classy right-hander managing just 42 runs from four innings.
“I knew that if I stuck to the processes that have worked for me in the past and especially last year, it wouldn’t be too long before I started getting some runs again and it all worked out pretty well.”
But Klinger resurrected his season with gritty back-to-back half centuries and has gone on to amass 732 at 91.5 with two hundreds and four 50s, including a memorable double hundred against Victoria.
The win puts Klinger in illustrious company too, with the brilliant Darren Lehman, the only other South Australian player to win the award on two occasions.
Klinger made the move to South Australia in 2008 after nine mainly frustrating seasons with the Bushrangers. And it proved just the tonic for Klinger, who has since become, in many pundits’ estimations, the next in line for a call-up to the national squad.
“When I was playing at the Bushrangers I had periods when I was playing probably as well as I am now. I knew when I came over here to Adelaide that I’d be able to do it, it was just a matter of doing it over a long period of time, which is what I’ve done now. Hopefully I can keep doing that for as long as I can, as long as my body holds up.”