Former South Australia batsman Alan 'Sheffield' Shiell is not remembered for scoring a first-class double hundred against a strong English team in 1965. Instead, he is known as the journalist, who on May 9, 1977, broke the news of the emergence of World Series Cricket. He is also the journalist who informed Ian Chappell that he was Australia's new captain in 1970.

When he finished playing 23 first-class matches, he was confronted with a choice: Continue persuing the Baggy Green, or take up the job of a full-time cricket correspondent. "I was starting to love the life of a journo more than that of a cricketer," Shiell told MiD DAY at Strathmore Hotel here where a host of South Australian cricketers gather.