Oh, and he just re-signed with the West End Redbacks for another three years.
Recruited from Western Victoria ahead of the 2021/22 season, Buckingham made his Redbacks debut in the final game of that Shield season, taking four wickets in the first innings.
The fast bowler played five more Shield matches this season, taking 15 wickets.
A two-time winner of the Barry Nugget Rees award for his passion, humility, honesty, integrity, team work and respect for the game of cricket, Buckingham is obviously held in high regard within SACA, which is reflective in his new deal.
Buckingham is ‘stoked’ to re-sign with a state that is ‘now home’.
“SACA gave me the opportunity a few years back that my home state didn't so, so to re-sign for three more years is just excellent,” Buckingham said.
“I think the group is in a great position at the moment, we've got a really good mix of senior players and youth coming through.
“Adelaide is home now, I absolutely love it here. It’s a great place to live, great place to play cricket and great people.”
Buckingham has had a whole host of new experiences in the last six months, which will hold him in great stead as he continues his Redbacks career.
He was named as a replacement player at both the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash and in the Australia A squad for a tour of New Zealand.
He took those opportunities with both hands – removing all six top-order New Zealand A batters and finishing with a career-best 6-58 in Lincoln is the perfect example of that.
“I’m still on a massive learning curve, so everything that happens for me is a bonus,” Buckingham said.
“To be involved in the Big Bash, it was certainly a bit of an eye opener being around the big crowds.
“The Aussie A tour was really nice – you don’t expect to go into a game and get six wickets.
“It was good to be amongst the set up more importantly and be around some pretty experienced guys and learn from their craft.
“The wickets on top of that was just an added bonus, I was really happy.”
Now another big replacement opportunity has come up, this time for Northamptonshire’s county side in the UK.
“I haven’t been over there yet, so I am looking forward to bowling in the conditions and learning from a few experienced guys over there,” he said.
“It will be good to have a different experience, see how they go about it compared to how we go about it with the Dukes ball as well and hopefully put my name forward.”
As well as bringing back the learnings from his time in three new teams, Buckingham will have another steep learning curve next summer when new bowling coach Ryan Harris joins the Redbacks staff.
“When I heard that was a signing, I was really happy because a man of his calibre obviously will have a lot of experience and knowledge to pass down,” he said.
“So, I'll be definitely picking his brain a fair bit and look forward to him getting into town.”
Buckingham will return to pre-season training with the Redbacks in June.