McSweeney's boundary blitz sets up SA victory charge

Nathan McSweeney's incandescent finish to an otherwise measured century helped South Australia recover from another wobbly batting effort and take an iron grip on their Marsh Sheffield Shield battle with New South Wales.

On an Adelaide Oval pitch that has seen batters from both teams struggle with the meritorious exception of McSweeney, the Blues enter day four on the ropes at 6-99 and needing an even more remarkable individual act to get them close to their distant victory target of 323.

In-former opener Daniel Hughes had carried that faint hope until the penultimate delivery of the day when he edged behind off SA's best bowler Nathan McAndrew (4-19), having engaged in a series of verbal spats with Redbacks fielders behind the wicket during a spicy final hour.

NSW's despairing chances now rest with all-rounder Jack Edwards (12no) who scored a century in the opening round of the Shield season earlier this month, with only tailenders to support him tomorrow.

The supremacy of bat over ball on a pitch that reportedly developed a series of fine ridges from the opening day has been highlighted by the reality seamers have claimed all but one of the 36 wickets to have fallen thus far, with batters averaging barely 20 across the three days.

But any suggestions that free-scoring is impossible were destroyed in the space of a single over this afternoon when McSweeney clubbed 28 from six balls delivered by Shield debutant Jack Nisbet to bolt from 72 to the sole century of the match so far.

It was the most runs scored by a batter in a single Shield over since Western Australia all-rounder Brad Hogg thumped 29 off occasional SA spinner Darren Lehmann at the same ground in 2007-08, and only two shy of Tom Moody's all-time benchmark of 30 against NSW leg spinner Adrian Tucker in 1990-91.

"The short boundary was to the leg side from that (scoreboard) end, and I thought that was my chance to get as many runs as we can to put a good total on the board," McSweeney said at day's end.

"It just happened very quickly that I got a couple out of the middle, then all of a sudden I was one shot away (from a hundred).

"The plan was to target the short boundary, but I didn’t think it would come that quickly."

The 24-year-old, whose presence in the Australia A line-up for their two series against New Zealand A this year indicates he is on the national selectors' radar, had batted more than three hours and faced 153 balls when he launched into Nisbet.

With SA nine wickets down and the right-hander having nothing to lose, he lifted Nisbet's first two deliveries over the heads of two fielders stationed on the leg-side boundary and into the crowd for a pair of sixes.

McSweeney should have been marooned at the non-striker's end next ball when he pushed to extra cover for a quick single, but an errant throw that evaded NSW keeper Matthew Gilkes enabled SA's set batter to scamper back for a second.

He celebrated his good fortune by flicking Nisbet for a third six over mid-wicket and then, with the field brought in to keep him on strike, the former Queenslander threaded consecutive boundaries through the off-side to crown a wildly contrasting innings.

"My plan with Harry Conway at the end was to give him probably three balls to face each over, and was pretty comfortable but then I got sneaky overthrow that put me back on strike, which was nice," McSweeney said.

"I like to think my game is still progressing and I'm a better player than I was last year, and being in those A-teams is such a great learning experience and you try to add to your game.

"Hopefully the more Shield cricket I play I can continue to grow and get better."

"Maybe that just didn’t bowl that well to me today, and it was a grind for a lot of it.

"I got a bit of luck as well, they did bowl really well and I played and missed a fair bit, nicked a couple and got dropped (on 32) in the first innings, so when you get in on these wickets you just try and make sure you take it deep because runs are valuable."

Having top-scored in SA's first innings with 64 from 172 balls faced, McSweeney produced an even more substantial knock to lift his team to a lead of 322 which seemed wholly unlikely when they again surrendered wickets in clumps to crash to 6-109 and then 9-182.

He was the final wicket to fall when he dragged-on attempting to again flay Nisbet through the off-side in his subsequent over, completing a five-wicket haul for the 20-year-old who outshone his senior Blues bowling partners in SA's second innings.

The feisty redhead gained some celebrity in his senior debut at Marsh One Day Cup level earlier this month when his maiden wicket brought a spirited send-off aimed at former Australia limited-overs batter Ben McDermott.

He also showed his batting capabilities in a 56-run stand for the final wicket with Gilkes in NSW's first innings, and having been elevated to face the final delivery of day three he may be required to contribute even more tomorrow if NSW are to threaten the distant target of 323.

Since the Adelaide Oval was redeveloped in 2013 and drop-in pitches installed in the wicket block, the average fourth-innings Shield score has been 230 with the highest successful run chase being SA's 9-317 that landed them a one-wicket win over WA eight summers ago.

"Our captain Jake Lehmann said anything over 300 will be quite good for us," McSweeney revealed about the chat in the SA rooms after his inspirational knock.

"The way the wicket's played all game, it's been challenging and the outfield is quite slow so 300 was our pass mark and we're lucky we got 320 (in front), and then for our bowlers to come out tonight and do what they did is tremendous.

"Hopefully tomorrow we can be clinical and get the job done."

It seemed last season's wooden spooners might have been eyeing a far more gettable target when they broke a dogged fourth-wicket stand between McSweeney and Daniel Drew triggering the flurry of wickets that has been commonplace in this match.

After Drew was pinned lbw in walking across his stumps, skipper Jake Lehmann holed out to point trying to up the run rate and record-breaking one-day tyro Jake Fraser-McGurk feathered a catch in playing a rare defensive shot.

Such is Fraser-McGurk's renown after his 29-ball century against Tasmania last week, even though SA were on the ropes at 5-103 when he went to the crease today Blues skipper Moises Henriques immediately dispatched three fielders to the leg-side boundary and another to deep point where the 21-year-old was caught in the first innings.

But it was a 48-run partnership between McSweeney and keeper Harry Nielsen that inflicted greater damage to NSW's hopes as the Redbacks pushed their lead beyond 250 before another clatter of wickets brought together their final pair and launched McSweeney into action.

The Blues made a solid start against the new ball, but the introduction of first-innings wrecker McAndrew swung the balance when he had opener Ryan Hackney caught behind off his third delivery of the day.

The indefatigable seamer then got through ex-Test batter Kurtis Patterson's defence, and shortly after failing to hold a stinging caught and bowled offering from Henriques he induced an edge from the NSW keeper to present Nielsen with his 100th Shield catch.

It brought a now familiar mini-collapse as the Blues lost 3-23 in the space of eight overs going into the day's final hour with the clearly rankled Hughes the only top-order batter to pass 10.

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points