Victorian captain Will Sutherland in tears as Western Australia chase history

The Sheffield Shield final is locked in after one of the wildest days the tournament has seen left on state’s skipper in tears.

Western Australia’s chase of a Sheffield Shield three-peat has received a massive boost after not only booking a place in the final, but a home game after a shock result on a wild day of action.

Earlier on Wednesday, South Australia claimed just its third win of the season against ladder-leaders Tasmania — allowing Western Australia to jump into first place.

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Heading into the final round, Tasmania had booked their place in the final, with the third-placed Victoria needing a win to jump over Western Australia in what was essentially an elimination final.

But despite hosting the match, Victoria were humbled in crushing scenes.

After taking a 100-run lead into the second innings, Victoria did well to restrict the back-to-back champions to 168.

However, Victoria didn’t put up much of a fight, bowled out for just 130.

Campbell Kellaway’s 136-ball 53 was the only real fight from the Victorians, falling as the final wicket as the side lost by 138 runs.

While it was a lopsided result, it’s the third straight season the Victorian’s season was ended by Western Australia, having been runners up for the past two seasons.

It was a brutal loss particularly for the Victorian’s 24-year-old captain Will Sutherland, who had to fight to hold it together in a post-match interview.

Will Sutherland couldn't hold back the emotion. Photo: Fox Sports

Asked about the change rooms, Sutherland couldn’t hold the emotions in.

“Not many words being said in there,” the skipper said before hiding his face and wiping away his tears.

“Boys are pretty flat.”

Pushing on to talk about what happened in the match, Sutherland tried to find the words to make sense of the devastating loss.

“Probably our batting let us down, then the boys maybe ran out of steam a little bit with the ball — my back didn’t help,” Sutherland said.

“We probably didn’t bat well enough.”

Sutherland admitted the side had a tough start to the campaign but added: “Probably a little didn’t go our way but also probably also only have ourselves to blame in a few areas as well.”

Victoria were thumped in their opening two matches but followed it up with four wins and two draws — including one against NSW where the Victorian were just two wickets from a massive outright win.

But a 57-run loss to Tasmania last round left the Victorians needing a win to book a place in the final.

Sutherland said what was most frustrating was that he believes the side could have chased

“I thought we could have chased that,” Sutherland said.

“We’re on a journey, still a young group, so there are elements of that still there. But this one does hurt quite a bit, it almost hurts more than making the final and losing. Three years in a row, it’s pretty frustrating.”

On the other hand, Western Australia will be in the box seat to chase just the third three-peat since 2000 behind Queensland between 1999/2000 to 2001/02 and Victoria in 2014/15 to 2016/17.

WA are chasing history. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

It would also be Western Australia’s second three-peat, after its 1986/87 to 1988/89 triumphs.

Western Australian skipper Sam Whiteman said it had been a pretty wild round.

“It’s pretty amazing, today’s result, you could either miss the final or host one,” Whiteman said.

“It felt like the game was swaying one way or another every half-hour. There’s a pretty good feeling in the group right now”.

The thumping loss for Tasmania also cost them a home final.

But Tasmanian skipper Jordan Silk was also adamant he was still “proud” of his team which only needed a draw against SA to play the decider in Hobart.

Instead, they were rolled for 123 and then 189 in the second innings to lose to the Redbacks by 134 runs, knowing the result in Melbourne would then decide their fate.

“We would have travelled anywhere to be part of the Shield final and regardless of what happens at the Junction Oval,” he said.

“I’m still immensely proud of what this group has been able to achieve this year.”

That includes the achievements of all-round star Beau Webster, who topped the Shield run-scoring list with a monstrous 914 and also took 26 wickets in what Silk called “the best individual season I’ve seen” and he looms as a key play in the final.

The dead rubber clash between NSW and Queensland is the only match which made the final day with Queensland reaching 8/287, a lead of 115 runs.

Ollie Davis starred in NSW’s first innings of 316, hitting 131 off 147 balls, while Sam Konstas was the only other to pass 50.

With NCA NewsWire