Bulls' Shield final hopes fade as Carey's ambition piles on pain

South Australia's collective commitment to ending a 29-year Sheffield Shield title drought can be personified by Alex Carey whose sparkling century today tightened the team's choke-hold on second-placed Queensland.

If any player could justifiably lodge a claim to skip a game in favour of a break it would be Carey after a gruelling five Tests against India were immediately followed by a couple of BBL outings, a tour to Sri Lanka and a Champions Trophy campaign in Pakistan and the UAE.

But rather than opt for a breather knowing SA had already qualified to host the Shield final from March 26 where he would be an automatic selection, the Test wicketkeeper threw himself straight back into training to re-acquaint himself with the domestic game.

His 104 from 100 balls in his 50th Shield appearance SA, and a big fifth-wicket stand with fellow century maker Jake Lehmann lifted the title favourites to a daunting 7(dec)-614 with the Bulls limping to 5-110 in reply at the end of day two, with their hopes of reaching the final all-but shot.

"I had a pretty good chat with 'Ryno' (SA coach Ryan Harris) at the start of the year, and I was always wanting to play as many games as possible," Carey said today, having been part of losing Shield final teams in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

"A goal has always been to win a Sheffield Shield … and I probably thought it's a good idea to play this (game) as well.

"I didn't keep in the Champions Trophy so to get behind the stumps, it felt like that was important.

"And to get back and play on our wickets with a red ball leading into the final was important as well.

"To face the second new ball (yesterday), I hadn't faced the swinging ball in a little while so that was a challenge.

"I guess knowing we were in the final as well was nice, but I would have played to hopefully get us into a Shield final.

"I think it was important to keep the wheels ticking over and not just sit around and not do a lot for the next couple of weeks."

Carey conceded he lacked a bit of rhythm behind the stumps having played as a fielder while Josh Inglis donned the gloves in the Champions Trophy.

How Queensland can still reach the Shield final:

 

– Score 330 runs by the 100-over mark in the first innings (need to score 220 more in 57 overs with five wickets remaining)

 

– Then hold on for a draw against South Australia and hope Victoria and Tasmania both win or draw their matches

But the 33-year-old remains in arguably the form of his career in front of them after posting a career-high Test score of 156 in Sri Lanka.

Today's century – his third of the Shield season – came in vastly different surrounds and circumstances than the spin-friendly surface at Galle, but was similarly crucial in setting up his team's position of strength.

Even though an outright win in the final round provided Queensland the smoothest path to a possible Shield final berth, they had calculated a first innings score of 330 within the first 100 overs might deliver that same outcome provided Western Australia and New South Wales both lost.

But that hope was reduced to a fading mirage this afternoon as SA spearhead Nathan McAndrew struck three times in near identical fashion in his new-ball spell to reduce the clearly fatigued Bulls to 3-13 inside six overs.

While the three left-handers in SA's top six – Carey, Lehmann and opener Conor McInerney – all pocketed centuries against Queensland's right-arm pace battery, Queensland's lefties folded against McAndrew's different attack plan.

Operating from around the wicket, a ploy rarely used against SA's century makers, McAndrew pitched full and got the ball to straighten against the angle of delivery and netted himself a hat-trick of lbw victims.

Lachlan Hearne (0) walked too far across his stumps, his opening partner Matthew Renshaw (4) followed suit later in the same over and Queensland's most productive batter of the summer Jack Clayton (1) completed the triumvirate.

There's no doubting Queensland sorely missed Test opener and last-start century maker Usman Khawaja who was unavailable for his team's pivotal contest in Adelaide.

When skipper Marnus Labuschagne (23) became the first batter in the game to edge a catch into the slips having survived for an hour, his team were 4-36 and at risk of finding themselves back in the field before day's end.

A 50-run stand between Ben McDermott and Jimmy Peirson put paid to that potential humiliation.

But a set play to induce McDermott into a mishit hook shot was perfectly executed by fast bowler Henry Thornton, and the resultant top edge saw the top half of Queensland's batting back in a disconsolate dressing room while more than 500 in deficit.

SA's first innings was their highest Shield total since they piled on 6-671 against Victoria in 2019-20 on a pitch at Junction Oval that might have doubled as part of the neighbouring F1 Grand Prix track.

But while the sheer volume of runs sent a clear message to whichever bowling line-up they encounter in next week's decider, the manner in which they accumulated them was just as ominous.

Having piled on 4-359 amid scorching heat on day one (including 2-166 in the final session against an exhausted Bulls attack), SA began at an even more brutal pace in significantly cooler climes this morning.

True to his recent dominant form at international level, Carey led that audacious charge by clubbing 18 runs from 19-year-old fast bowler Callum Vidler's opening over of the day.

Vidler had loomed as Queensland's most potent threat for much of Saturday, but struggled to find rhythm and direction after his draining workload in the heat and Carey put him to the sword.

A thumping drive to the cover boundary yielded the Test gloveman's half century (from 54 balls faced) before he repeated the dose next ball, followed by a short-arm pull that cleared the midwicket fence and a neat glide over gully that brought four more.

Playing his first Shield game of the season having debuted for Queensland at the end of last summer shortly after returning from the under-19 World Cup in South Africa, Vidler's three overs early today cost 35 runs and he did not bowl again in the innings.

By contrast, Carey was unstoppable and raced from his overnight tally of 46no to 76 within half an hour of play resuming, as his partnership with Lehmann realised a century from just 88 deliveries.

Carey's charge was fleetingly slowed when he misjudged a bouncer from Mark Steketee that crashed into the badge of his protective batting helmet, triggering the day's first drinks break as a replacement lid was sought and concussion protocols administered.

He shrugged off the blow to reach his third hundred of a Shield season in which he's played four games between his Australia commitments, with today's milestone arriving at a typically enterprising clip of 92 balls courtesy of his 11th boundary.

Only ex-Victoria skipper Richie Robinson (four in 1976-77) managed more hundreds in a season as 'keeper-batter, while another former SA and Test representative Wayne Phillips remains the only gloveman to have batted five or more times in a Shield season and average above 100.

With 556 runs at 92.66 with three centuries so far this Shield summer, Carey may yet finish the 2024-25 campaign as part of that elite club of one.

His early flurry this morning overshadowed Lehmann who reached his half-century from a comparatively sedate 58 balls before picking up the pace against the Bulls' part-time bowlers.

He had reached 87 and the stand between the two left-handers worth 175 when Carey holed out to mid-off from the medium pace of Test teammate Labuschagne, and speculation grew that SA might foreclose their innings once Lehmann reached his ton.

However, the 32-year-old was happy to continue his understudy role when joined by Ben Manenti (49 off 59 balls) and then McAndrew (41 off 48) as SA piled on pain for the foot-weary visitors.

Lehmann's third century of his most productive Shield season since 2016-17 came shortly after lunch by which time Queensland had parked their frontline fast bowlers and relied on leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson (1-178 off 43 overs) and part-timers led by Labuschagne (2-73 off 19).

SA finally called time on their batting bonanza when McAndrew became Clayton's maiden first-class wicket, but it was a rare moment of celebration for the Bulls on a day that soon turned gloomy as their grand final ambitions faded.

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

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 South Australia Men SA	9	6	1	2	0	0	5.46	8.3	51.76
2 Queensland Bulls QLD	9	3	3	3	0	0	7.5	8.3	36.8
3 NSW Men NSW	9	3	3	3	0	0	6.99	7.4	35.39
4 Western Australia Men WA	9	3	3	3	0	0	5.83	7.6	34.43
5 Victoria Men VIC	9	3	5	1	0	0	5.19	8.3	32.49
6 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	9	2	5	2	0	0	6.41	7.2	27.61

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