The first South Australia Men’s home game of the season heralded a special day for State Scorer Neil Ricketts, scoring his 800th cricket match.
Neil began his scoring journey at Adelaide Cricket Club, where he quickly progressed from helping at son Andrew’s junior games to becoming the 1st Grade Men’s team scorer. He held this position for 20 consecutive seasons from 2004/05 to 2023/24.
Neil was invited to score his first Domestic games in the 2008/09 season, beginning with WNCL and Big Bash.
He scored his first international match in the same season, Australia versus New Zealand in the Women's Rose Bowl ODI Series at Adelaide Oval, alongside Rita Artis OAM who had been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005 “for service to sport, particularly cricket administration as an official scorer.”
Neil was officially named a State Scorer in 2012 following Tom Lowrey OAM's retirement. Like Rita, Tom was awarded his Medal of the Order of Australia for service to cricket, scoring both for Prospect DCC and in Domestic and International cricket over the course of 60 years.
Since 2008 Neil has scored upwards of 300 Domestic fixtures and 54 International matches, including 13 Test matches.
For the past 15 years Neil’s son Andrew has also scored at State level, and the two have shared many domestic and international matches including several Test matches.
Asked about his career highlights, Neil said, “I’ve witnessed many outstanding games and remarkable individual performances. Among the top experiences would be scoring in Adelaide Oval’s first Day Night Test in 2015/16 against New Zealand, my involvement in the Adelaide Strikers victory in the 2017/18 BBL Final, and being part of three Sheffield Shield Finals (2015/16, 2016/17, 2024/25).
"I’ve also seen first hand many impressive achievements in Domestic and International Cricket. Some of the most memorable include Mitchell Johnson’s 7-40 versus England in the 2013/14 Test, Virat Kohli's twin centuries in the 2014/15 Australia versus India Test Match, and David Warner’s 335no versus Pakistan in 2018/19.
"It’s especially meaningful to watch local players succeed, from Chadd Sayers’ hat trick in the Sheffield Shield match versus Queensland in October 2014, to Travis Head's Player of the Match performances in last three Adelaide Oval Test Matches.”
Neil also noted the special experience of scoring many of these games with fellow State scorers and friends Mick Harper and Ian Graham. This season Mick and Neil have been appointed as Scorer Mentors, to recognise their work in supporting and developing scorers in South Australia.
Neil will be presented his 800 game milestone award at the annual Bradman Rolton Awards Night, an initiative introduced in the 2024/25 season by the SACA Match Officials Team with the support of SACUSA and SACA Board Member Andrea McCauley.