SA coach seeks insights on Shield final's finer details

South Australia's lack of experience in Sheffield Shield finals has prompted Ryan Harris to reach out to some of his fellow coaches to help him and his players best prepare for the five-day decider starting next Wednesday.

Having finished the regular season well clear at the top of the Shield ladder, SA's hopes of securing their first domestic first-class title in almost three decades have been significantly boosted by hosting the final against Queensland at Karen Rolton Oval.

But the team's lack of recent success means it is also the only outfit in the competition not to have contested a Shield playoff under the new playing conditions introduced in 2018-19 that decree finishing top does not guarantee the prize if the final is drawn.

Instead, provided weather doesn't restrict the decider to less than 270 overs in total, the Shield is awarded to the team that accrues most bonus points inside the first 100 overs of their respective batting and bowling innings, should the game end in a stalemate.

So while Harris and his SA brains trust assess the pitch being prepared for next week's showpiece before finalising their playing XI, he is also mulling over the best course of action should skipper Nathan McSweeney win Wednesday morning's coin toss.

"I'm actually still working on that and trying to find out some information because of the bonus point system," Harris said today.

"I've got to do some research around that and maybe speak to a couple of coaches that have done it, and see what their theories are on it.

"Do you bat and go big, or do you bowl and make it a big one-day game?

"We don't want to overthink it.

"You can worry so much about the first innings and you might lose wickets trying to get that bonus point or whatever, and then all of a sudden it puts you under pressure for the rest of the game.

"I spoke to Nathan (McSweeney) about talking about it to the group, and he was more about 'let's just play the game'.

"And I think that's the way you've got to do it."

The top-line summary of Harris's deeper dive into the five Shield final results since 2018-19 when the new system came into operation – there was no final in 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic – will show an even split in scenarios.

Two teams have won the toss and batted (Victoria in 2018-19 and New South Wales in 2020-21) with the Blues losing to Queensland at the Gabba, while the past three finals – all won by host team Western Australia – saw captains choose to bowl first.

The ploy worked for WA over Victoria in 2022-23, but not for Tasmania at the WACA Ground last summer while the 2021-22 final ended in a draw with WA securing 1.67 bonus points in the first innings compared to Victoria's 1.44.

Knowing they had one hand on the Shield through the bonus points allocation in that game, WA were able to bat Victoria out of the contest and the match was called off with the hosts 7-400 and 480 runs ahead at lunch on day five.

While the evidence on whether winning the toss in the final and batting or bowling first offers a benefit is far from conclusive, the glaring statistic that will encourage Harris is every decider staged under the new conditions has seen the Shield lifted by the home team.

However, SA's advantage in hosting the final for the first time since 2015-16 may be marginally lessened by the quirk of scheduling that saw Queensland familiarise themselves with Rolton Oval in the drawn game played there earlier this week.

That match was characterised by a scorching day one when temperatures nudged 42C, further baking a pitch that was already bone dry as SA sought answers as to whether their spin duo Ben Manenti and Lloyd Pope would be effective on the surface.

As events transpired, leg-spinner Pope proved most effective with 3-84 from 26 overs in Queensland's only innings while Manenti returned 1-53 from 16.5.

But it was the inability of Queensland's Test-capped leggie Mitchell Swepson (match figures of 2-272 from a total of 66 overs) to extract assistance from the surface across four days that has SA pondering their most potent bowling attack.

"The wicket will probably have a little bit more moisture in it," Harris said today of conditions expected for the final where weather is forecast to be fine and sunny throughout.

"We definitely dried it out a lot more (last game) to try the spin on it, and it didn't spin as much.

"We saw Mitchell Swepson bowl on it and didn't get a lot of purchase out of it either.

"The grass length will probably stay the same in the discussions I've had with Trent (Kelly, Rolton Oval curator).

"Selection is going to be hard, we're still working out whether we'll play the second spinner.

"We usually go two genuine fast bowlers, the allrounder and two spinners or we go the three (quicks) and an allrounder and leave the spinner out."

If SA opt for the latter option, it's possible Pope will miss in favour of Manenti who also provides batting depth behind seam-bowling allrounder Liam Scott, while the pace roles will be filled by Brendan Doggett, Nathan McAndrew and either Jordan Buckingham or Henry Thornton.

Queensland today included Usman Khawaja in their 14-man squad for the final, after the Test opener spoke publicly about his absence from the preceding game against South Australia.

Khawaja's inclusion comes at the expense of off-spinning allrounder Jack Sinfield who travelled to Adelaide last week but was not included in the Bulls' final XI, while opener Matt Renshaw will travel with the team on Monday even though his wife Josie is expecting the couple's second child.

Renshaw is one of seven Queensland players in that squad who were part of the 2020-21 Shield triumph, alongside Khawaja, Swepson, current skipper Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser and last-game century makers Jimmy Peirson and Jack Wildermuth.

SA are expected to finalise a 14-player squad over the weekend.

Doggett is the only player in the SA set-up to have experienced Shield final success having been part of Queensland's title-winning teams in 2017-18 and 2020-21.

In order to prepare his players for the demands of a five-day contest, Harris will enlist Doggett's input and also call on the experience of Australia Test keeper Alex Carey.

"It's a long time, and a lot of these guys haven't done it," Harris said of the slightly different demands posed by a five-day match.

"That extra day is a big thing.

"We'll touch on the five-day stuff (tomorrow) morning in our preview, but it's (minimum) 90 overs per day and not 96 (as per Shield playing conditions), so it's a little bit different.

"It's basically Test conditions which only a couple of blokes around this group have played so we'll definitely lean on Kez (Carey) and talk about that.

"But I think we just play the game as it is.

"Not many five-day games don't get a result."

After their bid to stage the Shield final at Adelaide Oval was blocked by the Australian Football League (AFL), SA Cricket Association is making a sizeable investment to erect several viewing platforms and a temporary grandstand to boost the crowd capacity of Rolton Oval.

The upgrade also includes giant video screens at the venue, with a further LED screen to be installed on adjacent Park 25 where spectators can watch the live action and also be involved in community cricket activities.

Harris is hoping the upgrade, along with lure of free admission for fans, will see sizeable crowds on hand as SA aims to land their first Shield title since 1995-96.

"I read a lot of stuff and there's been a lot of average stuff (written) about this place and now it's time to come and support us," he said.

"A lot of people have been really negative over the years, and fair enough there hasn't been a lot of success.

"But now's an opportunity to come and support, to come and show your face and help us out.

"They (SACA) are putting in a lot of seating and it will be like a carnival atmosphere, it will be unreal."

Queensland squad: Marnus Labuschagne (c), Jack Clayton, Lachlan Hearne, Usman Khawaja, Angus Lovell, Ben McDermott, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Tom Straker, Mitchell Swepson, Callum Vidler, Jack Wildermuth.

South Australia squad: TBC

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	10	6	1	3	0	0	7.61	9	55.61
2 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	3	3	4	0	0	9.06	8.7	39.76
3 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	5	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	39.49
4 NSW Men NSW	10	3	4	3	0	0	6.99	8.4	36.39
5 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	3	5	2	0	0	7.72	8.2	35.92
6 Western Australia Men WA	10	3	4	3	0	0	5.83	8.6	35.43

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