After five years of finishing last South Australia is close to making the Sheffield Shield final

South Australia had been Sheffield Shield easybeats for the past seven seasons but a new coach has turned his team into the best in Australia.

South Australia’s resurgence from the depths of Australian cricket despair continued on Friday with a massive Sheffield Shield win over Tasmania putting them a step closer to a spot in the final and a first title in nearly 30 years.

There were no final day batting heroics from Big Bash final centurion Mitch Owen or Test all-rounder Beau Webster at the Adelaide Oval as Tasmania fell 87-runs short of what would have been a monster chase of 381 to win.

The win for the home team, which moved SA 11 points clear of second-placed NSW on the Shield table, was all the more remarkable given the Redbacks were bowled out for just 93 on the opening day of the game, before hitting back with the ball, dismissing Tassie for 101, then with the bat in the second innings compiling a mammoth 388.

Needing 216 runs, with seven wickets in hand, to reel in the target on the final day Tassie were seven wickets down at lunch before leg-spinner Lloyd Pope (4-76) took two wickets in two balls after the break to put the result within reach.

Webster then went on a slogging search for 118 runs still needed before falling the ball after he brought up his half-century, Jake Lehmann taking a juggling catch from a skied ball to end the chase at 283, and to cue the SA celebrations.

Brendan Doggett celebrates with Harry Nielsen after they combined to take the wicket of Mitchell Owen for one. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)

Having finished last on the Shield table five seasons in a row following defeat in the 2016/17 final, SA had finished fourth and fifth in the past two seasons of the six team competition.

In two seasons during that lean patch, SA didn’t win a single Shield match, and across the past 74 games before this season began, had recorded just 10 victories.

This season however, with former Test fast bowler Harris taking over as coach from Jason Gillespie, and with Test batter Nathan McSweeney as captain, the Redbacks have now beaten both of last year’s Shield finalists, in consecutive games.

The five wins from eight completed games have come on the back of 556 runs from opener Henry Hunt, who leads his team, and aided by two early-season centuries from Test keeper Alex Carey.

Seeamer Nathan McAndrew is also the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 31 scalps, aided in this game by six first innings wickets from Brendan Doggett.

One more win in the final two games of the season could be enough for SA to secure a home final for the first time in a decade.

South Australia has not won the Sheffield Shield since the summer of 1995/96, a near three decade winning drought.

Originally published as After five years of finishing last South Australia is close to making the Sheffield Shield final