Victoria pinch emerging SA legspinner

Victorian cricket has pinched an emerging teenage legspinner from South Australia.

Tom O'Connell, a 17-year-old who starred in Adelaide's district ranks last summer, has joined the Bushrangers as a potential replacement for dumped leggie Fawad Ahmed.

O'Connell, who took the most wickets in Adelaide's grade cricket last season, was offered a rookie contract by SA but opted to join Victoria instead.

"It was disappointing to lose Tom at this early stage of his career, SA's high performance general manager Tim Nielsen said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We have a policy of waiting for young players to finish their schooling before offering full contracts."

Nielsen said O'Connell was behind fringe Australian limited overs legspinner Adam Zampa and rising 18-year-old tweaker Lloyd Pope in SA's pecking order.

Pope, a standout for Australia in last summer's under 19 World Cup, has accepted a rookie contract with the Redbacks for the coming season.