The Renegades’ all-time leading wicket-taker has stepped into the captaincy with newly-appointed skipper Nic Maddinson to miss the first couple of games due to Australia A commitments.
"Kane Richardson will do it, which is great flavour of the week, I suppose, because Patty's [Cummins] got the Australian job and now Kane will do our job," Saker told ESPNcricinfo.
“He's a really experienced player and he's been great for us."
"I'm really pleased that he put his hand up.
“He sent me a text and said he obviously knew that we were in a bit of a dilemma with it. And I wanted him to do it, but he put his hand up even before I asked him so that's really pleasing.”
Richardson, a member of Australia’s recent T20 World Cup winning squad, said he was looking forward to taking on the challenge.
“Yeah it’s exciting, it’s something different for sure,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a new experience with a bunch of young guys and still some senior experience around with Patto and Finchy and those guys.
“We haven’t had as much on-field success as we would have liked (the last two years) but I think the growth in those younger guys has been a real standout.
“Hopefully this year we can put some senior players who are playing well around them and have some more on-field success.”