South Australia win back-to-back titles after Victoria collapse
Updated ,first published
Victoria’s captain and coach has called for DRS to be added to the Sheffield Shield final after the home side collapsed in 53 minutes on final day to hand South Australia back-to-back titles for the first time in the state’s history.
Victoria, who went on to take 5-102 after chasing 196 in their first Shield since 2019, lost 5-27 in the final to capitulate to a spirited SA team that had lagged behind Victoria in the standings all season.
The SA side, led by a Queenslander in Nathan McSweeney, included at least nine players who had moved state, including six from New South Wales. SA have been dubbed “NSW A” by some, denoting players who were once selected before them.
Victoria’s last hope went with the wicket of youngster Ollie Peake, who was caught behind by Alex Carey on what could have been a no-ball off the bowling of all-rounder Liam Scott – replays of the crease line had been obscured by the non-striking batsman.
There were also several contested lbw decisions throughout the game. Victorian coach Chris Rogers made a strong point about ensuring DRS for the final as he struggled not to attribute the defeat to those calls.
“If you’re going to sell this as the sixth Test match of the year, I think they should,” he said. “If you’re going to have a third and fourth official, I think you should. But it goes both ways and you want to make sure the game is given the credit it deserves.”
Captain Will Sutherland agrees.
“It would be nice if they could find funding for this,” he said. “It removes a bit of uncertainty, there aren’t a few risky balls there either, so make sure the right decision is made, it would be handy if that could happen.”
After leading the Shield table all season, the 56-point defeat was a particularly bitter result for Rogers and Sutherland as a year of consistent performance gave way to a miserable collapse on the final day of the season.
“This one hurts the most,” Rogers said. “We went to those games [away finals in 2022 and 2023] There were a lot of underdogs and we kind of spent our tickets to get to the final. This time we planned well, we adapted our players well to get them in the best shape, but we couldn’t finish the job in the game.
“There’s no doubt we could have been better. The fourth strike of a game with a lot of pressure does funny things to people and these players will improve from there.”
SA’s victory was largely down to the combination of Carey’s superb second innings century and the relentless seam bowling combination of Nathan McAndrew (3-50), Jordan Buckingham (1-27), Scott (3-32) and Henry Thornton (3-12). Test bowler Brendan Doggett missed the final due to a hamstring strain.
After the last regular season match between the same two sides was played on a much friendlier pitch for batting, a much grassier surface made for a choppy contest but did no favors for Victoria’s top-order batting.
In Scott’s final week of daylight saving, the morning shadows were still shortening when Todd Murphy found the outside edge of the goal; As did Stuart Broad to complete the 2023 Ashes series at the Oval.
McAndrew, who admitted using codeine painkillers to get back on track at the end of a long season, then won a marginal lbw decision against Mitch Perry, who had an angled ball-throwing leg stump in the eyes of umpire Shaun Craig.
Kept behind these two nightwatchmen, Peake punched a puritanical straight stick to McAndrew with a half-volley and Scott soon found the outside edge with another away seamer, expertly cut out by Carey. The referees checked to see if the ball was destroyed but were given the benefit of the doubt as Scott’s boot was covered by non-striker O’Neill.
O’Neill, who top-scored the match for Victoria with a first-innings 64, was joined by captain Sutherland with the required 76 and SA responded by offering Thornton’s extra pace.
Sutherland immediately rushed and when Thornton offered a tempting length ball down the wider line, the Victorian skipper stepped up in Bazball style and was held safely at slips. Thornton then smashed O’Neill’s stumps to give the victory to SA.
A lone visiting spectator rushed to the ground holding the SA state flag, only to be told that the umpires were checking a no-ball situation. There was a brief interruption before the SA celebrations began.
What happened next showed evidence of strong common purpose on and off the field. The SACA tent, hastily constructed by the visitors, was by far the noisiest area of the otherwise deserted Junction Oval as a group of squad players paid their own way to be in Melbourne for the final morning of the match.
“Last year it was easy, this year it was very difficult,” said SA coach Ryan Harris, who started his cricket in Adelaide before learning most of what he taught in Queensland. “That’s what makes this a little more special.
“One of the things I try to get across is that no matter what the scenario is, we just have to fight. You basically have to walk across that ground with your rear end out.
“Every game I write four things on the board and one of them is ‘we fight’. And they do. They play for each other. That’s how you win on the successful teams I’ve played for.”
Where did SA’s Shield winners come from?
Mackenzie Harvey – Victoria
Henry Hunt – NSW
Nathan McSweeney – Queensland
Jason Sangha – NSW
Alex Carey – SA
Jake Lehmann – SA
Liam Scott – NSW
Ben Manenti – NSW
Nathan McAndrew – NSW
Henry Thornton – NSW
Jordan Buckingham – Victoria
News, results and expert analysis from the sports weekend delivered every Monday. Sign up for our sports newsletter.
Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of many books on cricket.Connect with: X.
