All-round South Australia cruise to Marsh Cup final after one-sided win over Victoria
They will face Western Australia in the final in a bid to end their 11-year trophy drought
AAP
26-Feb-2023
Spencer Johnson impressed again as he picked two wickets • Getty Images
South Australia 137 for 2 (Hunt 63, Carder 49, Kellepotha 2-43) beat Victoria 136 (Seymour 51, Harris 19, McAndrew 3-22, Johnson 2-41) by eight wickets
South Australia are just one win away from ending their 11-year trophy drought after a one-sided eight-wicket win over Victoria put them into the domestic One-Day Cup final.
They turned around a heavy defeat against Victoria in this week's Sheffield Shield match to ease to victory with 24 overs to spare in Adelaide on Sunday.
The final-round contest between the two second-placed sides had a ticket to the March 8 final on offer, but Victoria's hopes dipped early on at 6 for 97, and they were eventually bowled out for 136.
South Australia cruised to a bonus-point success on the back of a 116-run opening-wicket stand between Henry Hunt (63) and Jake Carder (49).
Awaiting them are a Western Australian side looking to repeat last year's rare feat of winning both state domestic honours.
Despite two defeats against Western Australia in this year's 50-over competition, South Australia's new skipper Jake Lehmann says the holders are not to be feared.
"We are so excited about the opportunity to go over there and take them on," he said. "Winning against WA in WA is obviously going to be tough, but it is an amazing opportunity.
"We want to take our positive way of playing and positive vibes up to them and hopefully we can come up with a first win for South Australia in some 10 years, so there is nothing but excitement in our [dressing] room.
"There is no one that is scared or intimidated by WA. They are a good outfit but we just need to play the best we can," added Lehmann, who only assumed the captaincy before this match after Hunt elected to concentrate on his batting.
South Australia's performance was again marked by a strong bowling display, with six different wicket-takers.
Heading the field was Nathan McAndrew, while new face Spencer Johnson impressed again following his recent Shield debut.
"Our bowlers didn't miss all day and credit to them where credit is due," Lehmann said. "The momentum is there and we just have to keep riding that wave."
It was a surprisingly limp display from a Victoria side that had enjoyed a series of gaping wins in both forms of domestic cricket.
Victoria lined up with two debutants in opener Tom Rogers and spinner Tom O'Donnell, son of former limited-overs star Simon O'Donnell.
Only James Seymour (51) impressed with the bat for Victoria, while legspinner Ruwantha Kellepotha picked up both South Australia wickets to fall.