Victoria and South Australia do battle again in another high stakes clash just five days after SA lifted the Dean Jones Trophy
Mates turned coaching rivals square off in crucial Shield clash
A subtle sub-text of last weekend's One-Day Cup final was the individual battle waged between the rival coaches, former Australia Test teammates and close friends Chris Rogers (Victoria) and Ryan Harris (South Australia).
Rogers surely felt conflicting emotions as coaching rookie Harris and his men hoisted aloft the Dean Jones Trophy following their 64-run win at Adelaide Oval, ending a 13-year drought between titles for SA.
Rogers and Harris began their respective post-playing coaching careers when jointly appointed to Cricket Australia's High Performance program in 2018, which included taking teams to the under-19 World Cups that year and in 2020.
Since Rogers took on the Victoria job prior to the 2020-21 season, they have reached grand finals in the Sheffield Shield (2021-22 and 2022-23) and 50-over (2024-25) competitions without getting over the line.
But the ex-Test opener, who had expressed interest in the SA coaching job (ultimately filled by Harris' predecessor, Jason Gillespie) before signing with Victoria might yet have a major say on his close mate's ambition to add this summer's Shield to the newly struck Dean Jones Trophy.
Victoria effectively needs to win both its final Shield matches – against SA at Junction Oval starting Thursday, and Western Australia at the WACA Ground from March 15 – to have a chance of reaching the decider currently scheduled for March 26-30.
Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25
| Team | M | W | L | D | N/R | Ded. | Bat | Bowl | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SA
|
10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7.61 | 9 | 55.61 |
|
2
QLD
|
10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9.06 | 8.7 | 39.76 |
|
3
VIC
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.19 | 9.3 | 39.49 |
|
4
NSW
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.99 | 8.4 | 36.39 |
|
5
TAS
|
10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.72 | 8.2 | 35.92 |
|
6
WA
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5.83 | 8.6 | 35.43 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points
SA currently sits atop the Shield ladder and may earn the right to host the grand final by dint of bonus points alone, though a victory in either of their remaining games would ensure them of that privilege.
However, should Victoria reverse the One-Day Cup final result in this week's Shield encounter, SA might need to win their ultimate regular season game – against Queensland at Karen Rolton Oval from March 15 – to ensure they host the play-off.
And given they've not defeated the Bulls at Shield level in Adelaide since the summer of 2016-17, that could cause Harris' team some anxiety.
"We've obviously got a big couple of games in the Shield to go, but I think winning is a habit and that's the message I've been giving since I started coaching," Harris said in the wake of SA's Dean Jones Trophy win last Saturday.
"These guys are starting to get a bit of belief in what they're doing, and the game plan that we have and they're starting to individually believe more than anything.
"There's no doubt we've got some momentum going into this week, and hopefully a Shield final (but) I've always had belief.
"The reason I came back to Adelaide was I had belief in this group from afar, that's why when Tim Nielsen (SA's former high performance boss) and Jason (Gillespie) rang me to come to assist Jason, there was always belief there that these guys were on the right track.
"My goal was to come in and break that (trophy) drought.
"The thing now is we've got one more big competition to go, and we've got to get ourselves there before we start talking about winning it."
While the One-Day Cup triumph has only bolstered that belief within the playing group, there have also been significant results during the current Shield season, notably the most recent win against Tasmania last month.
Having been bowled out for just 93 on the opening day at Adelaide Oval, SA became just the second team in the past 55 years (after NSW against Tasmania in 2020) to be knocked over for less than 100 in the first innings of a Shield game and then emerge victorious.
SA selectors initially named an unchanged squad of 12 for the re-match against Victoria, but subsequently included One-Day Cup player of the final Henry Thornton on match eve after Nathan McAndrew went down with back spasms.
The tournament's leading scorer Mackenzie Harvey and Daniel Drew are the two players to miss selection for the red-ball format having played in the One-Day Cup triumph.
In their place are regular Shield openers Henry Hunt and Conor McInerney as well as spin-bowling allrounder Ben Manenti and seamer Jordan Buckingham who were both overlooked for the One-Day Cup decider.
Meanwhile, Victoria captain Will Sutherland will sit out the crunch clash to manage his workloads having finished the previous two summers with a stress fracture in his back. Former Vics skipper Peter Handscomb will stand in for the allrounder against SA.
They've also named teenage rising star Ollie Peake for a potential debut, while former NSW batter Blake Macdonald is expected to earn his first cap for Victoria at No.3 with Tom Rogers omitted from their 13-player squad.
Squads
Victoria: Peter Handscomb (c), Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Ollie Peake, Mitch Perry
South Australia: Nathan McSweeney (c), Jordan Buckingham, Brendan Doggett, Henry Hunt, Jake Lehmann, Ben Manenti, Conor McInerney, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Henry Thornton
The 18-year-old Peake hit 99 in Victoria's most recent Second XI match against WA, while right-hander Macdonald scored a century in both innings.
Peake, who also made his Big Bash debut for the Renegades this summer, is already highly touted among national ranks and was part of Australia's squad during their recent Test tour of Sri Lanka as a development player.
Victoria most recently secured men's silverware in 2018-19 when they completed the Sheffield Shield and 50-over double under then coach (and current Australia supremo) Andrew McDonald.
The other teams to have completed the Shield and One-Day Cup double in the same summer this century are NSW (2002-03), and WA who achieved an historic hat-trick in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.
It's therefore not surprising that Harris, who began as assistant coach to Gillespie last summer before being appointed to the top job in August 2024, cites WA as the benchmark to which his previously success-starved group is aspiring.
"Winning once doesn't make us a great team," he said after landing just the second men's trophy SA has secured since their most recent Shield triumph in 1995-96.
"You look at WA, they've been a great team and have won four or five years in a row.
"So that's a long-term goal, and you've got to start somewhere.
"This (Dean Jones Trophy) is hopefully that start."