McAndrew's perfect 10 leads Redbacks to thumping win

He might have returned the first 10-wicket match haul of his increasingly impressive first-class career, but Nathan McAndrew won't see his name etched upon the honours board in South Australia's dressing room despite his pivotal role in their thumping win over New South Wales.

It took the Redbacks just under an hour on the fourth morning to complete their biggest Marsh Sheffield Shield victory (in terms of runs) over the Blues for almost 30 years, with McAndrew fittingly claiming the final scalp to complete a five-for in both innings.

But whereas batters are recognised in the Redbacks' inner sanctum for scores of 100 or above, bowlers aren't afforded the same honour for a 'mere' five wickets in an innings with the threshold for the honours board being seven or better.

The caveat was pointed out to him post-match by SA's injured left-arm quick Spencer Johnson whose name is the most recent addition to that honour roll having captured 7-47 against Queensland at the Gabba last summer.

"It's not something I've ever really expected, or something I've ever thought of," McAndrew said in the aftermath of his breakthrough achievement that led SA to a 186-run win.

"But I've just been told by our stats man there's not even a board for ten-for, so it's probably not that big an achievement anyway.

"All that matters is we got the win.

'You just had to find that length that brought the top of the stumps into play, and then just not miss.

"And just keep doing that ball after ball, as boring as it sounds … but that's four-day cricket."

Not only does McAndrew's haul – the first 10-for in a Shield match by an SA bowler since Chadd Sayers' 13-131 against NSW at the same venue in 2018-19 – not gain him a place in perpetuity, he was pipped for player of the match honours teammate and near-namesake Nathan McSweeney.

But on a pitch where wickets fell to the seamers with worrying regularity, it was McSweeney's pair of match-high scores of 64 and 100 that effectively proved the difference and his success brought no objection from McAndrew who finished with 5-42 then 5-19.

"That was an absolutely match-winning performance," McAndrew said of SA's vice-captain.

"They always say batters set them up and bowlers win them, and that was such as testament to that – he set the game up for us.

"I think that was a really good cricket wicket.

"As we saw, if you batted well and you really owned your contact points like McSweeney did, there was runs to be scored.

'If you got in and you played good shots, made really good decisions and left well you could score runs but if you played poor defensive shots from the crease and got stuck on the crease, then one probably had your name on it.

"It was a contest between bat and ball throughout the whole four days, there were no dead moments in the game where the ball just wasn't in the game.

"I would also say it wasn't just a minefield where the batters weren't a chance of scoring runs.

"I'd love a carbon copy (for next week's game against Shield-holders Western Australia), rinse-repeat if we could."

SA's win, their biggest against the long-time Shield heavyweight since the 257-win triumph against a Blues' line-up groaning with Test stars in 1994-95, was especially meritorious given their hefty defeat inside three days against an undermanned Tasmania in the opening round a fortnight ago.

After losing the toss and being sent in against NSW's five-pronged seam attack on day one, the Redbacks scrapped their way to 293 which McAndrew claimed would have been worth closer to 400 on a flatter pitch at a venue with a faster outfield.

Having banked a first-innings lead of 110, the Redbacks might have squandered their advantage by slipping to 6-109 before McSweeney reached a remarkable century by pummelling 28 runs from a single over to reach triple figures.

Despite suffering from back spasms that forced him from the field late on day three, McAndrew grabbed four vital wickets as NSW slumped to 6-99 with a day to play then former Blues quick Harry Conway claimed three wickets this morning including the key scalp of rival all-rounder Jack Edwards.

Conway had debutant Jack Nisbet – elevated to number eight ostensibly as nightwatchman on Tuesday evening, although his batting suggested it may become a more permanent promotion – caught at backward square leg in the day's eighth over to make the day's initial incision.

In his next over, he lured Edwards into a similar flick off the hip that sailed unerringly into the hands of Wes Agar at fine leg.

After that, tailenders Chris Tremain and Jackson Bird both fended catches to gully to send SA to interim top spot on the Shield ladder with the WA-Tasmania match in Perth still to be decided.

NSW skipper Moises Henriques was left to lament some poor shot-making in his team's first innings, claiming last year's wooden-spooners fathomed too late in the game how best to bat and bowl on the challenging Adelaide Oval surface, noting they should have followed SA's disciplined example.

"It was very disappointing, we took too long to learn about these conditions with both bat and ball," Henriques said at game's end.

"We were too short with the ball on day one in pretty bowling-friendly conditions and I also felt like the batting group maybe got sucked into the way their lower-order got away with batting on that wicket and thought that we could go out and score runs relatively freely."

While the teams will meet again in a Marsh One Day Cup game at Adelaide Oval on Friday, which is expected to see Nathan Lyon's return to top-level cricket after the calf injury he sustained during the Ashes campaign, SA's next challenge is WA who they defeated on their home turf last summer.

The Blues must regroup having failed to reach 200 in either innings of this clash, and meet similarly winless Victoria at the MCG starting Thursday.

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