Redbacks dare to dream of drought-breaking Shield win

South Australia's hopes of securing their first Marsh Sheffield Shield victory in two years will rest on a bowling attack that – almost to a man – has never experienced a first-class win in Redbacks colours.

The recent Shield cellar dweller enters the final day of their match against perennial powerhouse Victoria 8-203 and holding an overall lead of 305 but in the knowledge claiming 10 wickets tomorrow will be a tough assignment on a flat Adelaide pitch.

It's uncharted territory for quicks Brendan Doggett and Nathan McAndrew who were signed from Queensland and New South Wales respectively this summer, while all-rounder Liam Scott and Lloyd Pope have also not been part of a winning SA team in their Shield careers to date.

The only bowler who can lay claim to having sung the team victory song is seamer David Grant who was part of a two-wicket win in his debut appearance as a 19-year-old against New South Wales in 2016, but has not tasted first-class success since then.

Doggett, who was a key member of the Bulls' Shield-winning outfit last summer, indicated the key to pushing for a breakthrough win tomorrow will be Victoria's preparedness to chase whatever victory target they are set thereby increasing the possibility wickets will fall.

"It's a pretty flat wicket," Doggett said tonight having claimed 3-72 in Victoria's first innings after enduring a 12-week lay-off due to a side strain.

"We've got 305 lead now, so we'll probably bat on for a little bit and try and push it out to 330, 340 maybe and then save enough overs for a second new ball tomorrow and see if we can finish the game.

"It's probably a tough wicket to try and push the game forward.

"If you're trying to keep the run rate above three (per over) there's going to be opportunities there for wickets.

"Otherwise it's quite an easy wicket just to dead-bat on, so hopefully the Vics are going to come out and try and chase down what we set them.

"But I definitely feel that if they're going to chase the game, there's ten wickets in it."

Victoria provided a glimpse of their batting depth in a first innings that yielded half-centuries to openers Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski and a rearguard 82 from Nic Maddinson whose hopes of a second century of an already productive summer were stymied by a lack of partners able to stay with him.

While the Redbacks will enter the final day with justified optimism they might also be mindful, if not fearful, of the similar scenario that played out in a tough Shield loss to NSW at Adelaide Oval a year ago.

On that occasion, SA held a lead of 116 when they began their second innings around tea on day three and then declared shortly before lunch next day setting the Blues 294 to win off a minimum 72 overs which was chased down for the loss of four wickets with a couple of overs to spare.

However, they will likely prefer a different historical reference and focus on their most recent Shield win – against Western Australia at Adelaide Oval two years ago – when they turned a similar first innings advantage and a day four declaration into a 109-run victory.

Such has been the scale of change SA cricket has undergone during that winless only their current top four batters remain from the XI that celebrated that win, and one of those (Jake Carder) was playing for WA at the time.

Opening pair Jake Weatherald and Henry Hunt reprised their roles from that WA game by compiling a similarly solid first-wicket stand (85 in 2019: 68 today) but again it fell to the fourth survivor – SA captain Travis Head – to carry a sizeable burden of responsibility.

Head went to the wicket this evening after first innings century maker Weatherald (32) chipped a catch to cover the ball before tea and Hunt had his stumps spreadeagled by Will Sutherland as he looked to lift the tempo having added a half-century to the two Shield tons he's already scored this summer.

Within a couple of overs of Head's arrival, Carder edged behind and then SA's other first innings hero Daniel Drew – who posted his maiden first-class ton in just his second game – was bowled by Jon Holland having exposed all three stumps in trying to force through the off-side.

Head briefly steadied the listing ship in a 29-run stand with Test teammate Alex Carey (15) before launching a full-scale assault in the day's final half hour that saw him hole out to deep mid-wicket shortly before stumps having made 46 from 52 balls.

His dismissal was followed immediately by McAndrew who was sent packing for a duck courtesy of a screamer of a catch hauled in by Will Sutherland, high to his right at gully.

Holland (3-55) was able to gain appreciable spin at times from the dry Adelaide surface, but it was the reverse swing gained by Doggett and McAndrew at times during Victoria's first innings that created the most interest among participants and onlookers alike.

"We didn't really feel like we had it reversing," Doggett revealed this evening.

"I saw that one I bowled to Pete Handscomb, I felt like it probably nipped off the wicket a bit more and I get natural angle in so we tried to play a bit of smoke and mirrors there and everyone got caught up in it."

Having lost five wickets in a hurry on Thursday evening when SA's bowlers were able to generate occasional reverse swing, Victoria's batters would have been mildly concerned to see the ball moving in the first few overs this morning.

But not out pair Maddinson and Sam Harper were largely untroubled in adding 48 from 11 overs until Harper lost his wicket in circumstances which the Redbacks could hardly have planned.

Attempting to glance a ball from McAndrew that veered violently down the leg side, Harper hung the bat so far in front of his body the resultant leading edge looped to mid-off.

That breakthrough against the trend of the session triggered a regular clatter of wickets, with Sutherland (0), Mitch Perry (11) and Scott Boland (0) falling to SA's quicks which left Maddinson to swing at everything when joined by last man Holland.

Not that the left-hander, who this week was named as a standby player for Australia's upcoming three-Test tour to Pakistan, chose to throw the bat indiscriminately.

Instead, with the field scattered far and wide for the majority of every over, Maddinson would heave at the first three deliveries of each over before knocking the fourth or fifth into one of yawning gaps and trusting veteran tailender Holland to negotiate the balance.

It was a ploy that worked successfully for seven overs as Head regularly deployed seven fielders on the boundary rope with just keeper Carey and a backward point – seemingly to relay the ball back to the bowler should it beat Maddinson's flashing bat – in the infield.

Not only did it buy an additional 23 runs, of which Holland contributed none, it soaked up a valuable 30 minutes before the Redbacks were able to embark on their second innings with a view to setting Victoria a challenging yet enticing total.

It was the introduction of leg spinner Pope that eventually undid Maddinson on the cusp of lunch, with the belligerent batter looking to land him somewhere near the historic Adelaide Oval scoreboard but had his middle stump rattled instead.