South Australia beat Victoria by 64 runs to claim the One-Day Cup title in front of a strong home crowd at Adelaide Oval
Match Report: South Australia Men win by 64 runs
ScorecardSA eye historic double after lifting Dean Jones Trophy
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So often the after-thought of Australia men's cricket, South Australia are the first team to hoist the newly minted Dean Jones Trophy, ending a 13-year barren stretch, and are now eyeing their first-ever domestic title double.
In a nod to the past having secured just one title across the Sheffield Shield and One Day Cup competitions over three decades, it was the progeny of past greats – Harry Nielsen and Jake Lehmann – who led their 64-run win over Victoria before 6,156 fans at Adelaide Oval.
On a pitch that proved two-paced and made shot-making problematic, it was Nielsen's 68 (from 93 balls) in his new guise as opener along with Lehmann's decisive late burst of 67 (from 76) that proved the difference between rival top orders.
Congrats Thorno on being awarded the Michael Bevan Medal for Player of the Match 🏅 pic.twitter.com/wLnvTxH3ci
— South Australia Cricket Teams (@SACricketTeams) March 1, 2025
In addition to securing the Dean Jones Trophy, SA also provided the inaugural Michael Bevan Medallist with Henry Thornton named as recipient of the new award for Player of the Final.
With 3-67 and a half century in a lost cause, Victoria captain Will Sutherland would have doubtless earned that individual honour if the result had been reversed.
The wait is over!!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 1, 2025
South Australia win the 2024-25 #OneDayCup for the first time in 13 years! pic.twitter.com/kPaiS6zijJ
But his dismissal – caught at long-on in a final bid to get his team home – clinched the title for SA and sparked joyous celebrations for a team that has reinvented itself after a lean decade or more.
Boosted by Player of the Year Liam Scott's unbeaten 54, SA finished with 268 which was thought to be slightly under par until an all-round bowling effort – a key reason for SA finishing the regular one-day season top of the table – strangled Victoria's potent batting.
While the home team's four-pronged seam attack ensured no Victoria player passed 50, it was skipper Nathan McSweeney's inspired decision to bowl himself inside the first 15 overs that brought the double strike that set SA on their way.
And nothing spoke louder to the strong camaraderie developed under first-year coach Ryan Harris than the mob that encircled substitute fielder Ben Manenti – SA's skipper during McSweeney's Test absence – who had squeezed from the starting XI for the final.
Since their most recent success in the 50-over competition 13 years ago, SA have suffered grand final defeats in 2015-16 (to New South Wales by five wickets), 2017-18 (Western Australia by six wickets) and 2022-23 (WA by 181 runs).
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And given they currently sit atop the Sheffield Shield ladder with two preliminary rounds remaining before this month's final, McSweeney's team also retains hopes of becoming the first SA men's outfit to complete a red-ball and 50-over domestic double.
Victoria's loss draws the curtain on the domestic white-ball – and quite likely the overall – career of indefatigable seamer Peter Siddle who returned his team's best bowling figures today (3-40 from 10 overs) but was denied a fairytale farewell.
Siddle, who was part of Victoria's triumphant one-day cup team 16 years ago, was hoping to become the oldest title winner since Allan Border led Queensland to the trophy in his final hurrah in 1996 aged 40 years 220 days.
The veteran called upon all his 40 years and 96 days' worth of experience when asked to bowl the final over of SA's innings, and the last of his celebrated white-ball career.
With Scott marooned at the bowlers' end through a miscalculation at the end of the penultimate over, Siddle befuddled rival seamers Nathan McAndrew and Henry Thornton in claiming 1-3 (with one of those runs a leg bye).
It meant a total that might have blown out to around 280 – given Scott and Lehmann had bludgeoned 63 from the preceding six overs – was curbed at 268, which looked to be slightly below par when Victoria began their pursuit at a gallop.
Nathan McAndrew gets South Australia's first of the #OneDayCup final 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Tqlzfgogvi
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 1, 2025
Despite the early loss of explosive young opener Harry Dixon who was castled by McAndrew in the second over, ex-Test opener Marcus Harris quickly found his groove as well as the boundary on multiple occasions.
The shiny new ball was exhibiting signs of swing in the twilight but it also skidded through from a surface that had proved tough for batters to find their timing during SA's stay at the crease.
With last weekend's century maker Campbell Kellaway playing the anchor role, Harris lifted his team's run rate to around six an over before McSweeney gambled by deploying his off breaks ahead of specialist leg spinner Lloyd Pope.
The final delivery of the SA skipper's first over was dragged down shorter than planned but, as Harris stepped back to provide room to slap it through the off side, it popped and spun more than expected and he bunted a head-high catch to extra cover.
McSweeney's exhortations to his teammates to believe were re-doubled in his next over when Victoria's most experienced batter Peter Handscomb attempted to drive above the bowler's head only to be outdone by the bowler's instinctive reflexes.
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As the ball flashed over his right shoulder, McSweeney threw up one hand and nearly completed a stunning grab but safely pouched the rebound as it fell gently into his lap.
Kellaway's dogged 84-minute occupation ended on 24 when he got himself into a terrible tangle trying to pull a slower-ball bouncer, and when Sam Harper was adjudged caught behind to a ball that looked to have brushed his thigh, Victoria has lost 4-34 in just under 10 overs.
The visitors faltering grip on the new trophy named in honour of one of their state's true greats seemingly lay in the hands of sixth-wicket pair Tom Rogers and Will Sutherland, with the equation reading 161 for victory from 160 remaining deliveries.
Despite Scott missing a tough, low return catch off Sutherland (on 15) and a wild nine-ball over from Pope that included three wides, one of which was doubled with a no-ball, Victoria's aspirations dimmed further when Rogers nicked off for 26.
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The loss of regular wickets meant Victoria's hopes of finding someone capable of matching Lehmann and Scott's final burst slowly disappeared, leaving Sutherland to shoulder the burden as he ran out of batting partners.
Sent into bat, SA scored at almost a run per ball for the first seven overs culminating in the tournament's leading scorer Mackenzie Harvey lifting Scott Boland beyond the square leg boundary for the day's first six.
But when Victoria skipper Sutherland brought himself into the attack next over, the game changed complexion.
Having removed Harvey with his second delivery when the ex-Victoria left-hander chopped on to his stumps, Victoria's experienced seamers put the squeeze on a circumspect SA top order.
The absence of boundaries for a six-over stretch after Harvey's removal led to the downfall of Daniel Drew (13) who top-edged an attempted pull to mid-wicket, and skipper McSweeney (7) who aimed a drive that yielded only an outside edge.
Fergus O'Neill bounces back to get the SA skipper #OneDayCup pic.twitter.com/wuYwdfONZM
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 1, 2025
With their three most prolific scorers of the tournament each having failed to reach 25, Nielsen was providing the innings' mainstay as he posted a neat half century from 67 balls faced.
However, when the in-form Jason Sangha became Sutherland's third victim the home team were 4-118 at the midway point of their batting stint and in need of something inspirational from the lower-middle order.
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The revival began with a 56-run fifth-wicket stand (from 64 balls) between a couple of revered SA names Nielsen and Lehmann that ended when the newly promoted opener was caught centimetres inside the fine leg boundary.
Lehmann – who had played in two of SA's three one-day grand final defeats prior to today – produced a cameo knock worthy of his famous father as he sat deep in his crease and targeted the shorter boundary on the eastern side.
The Victoria seamers, who had been unerring across the first half of the innings, began to miss their lengths in the face of an onslaught that saw a half-century stand from just 53 balls between the left-hander and Scott.
Lehmann's peppering of the short boundary eventually led to his undoing when Kellaway clutched another impressive catch running in from deep mid-wicket, but by that stage Scott was finding his range and runs were flowing at around 10 per over.
The newly crowned player of the year placed his bid to become the inaugural Bevan Medallist with an unbeaten 54 off 37 balls that was laced with seven scorching boundaries and a crisply struck six.
But both he and his team knew their position might have been even stronger had they been able to get the 24-year-old to the striker's end as the wily Siddle closed out the innings.
One-Day Cup standings 2024-25
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | Bat | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SA
|
7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 3 | 21 |
|
2
VIC
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -0.162 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
|
3
NSW
|
7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.099 | 0 | 2 | 16 |
|
4
QLD
|
7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.244 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
|
5
TAS
|
7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.134 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
|
6
WA
|
7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.481 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
PTS: Total points