A sentimental After helping the state end a 29-year Sheffield Shield drought with a game-winning, undefeated century, Jason Sangha claims South Australia rescued his career.
After six seasons and 37 Shield games, including one as skipper in 2022, Sangha, 25, was dropped by New South Wales and joined South Australia during the off-season last year.
Prior to being dropped in November 2023, the former captain of Australia’s Under-19 team had been elevated to Shield cricket fairly early on but had battled with consistency, averaging only 26.63 with three hundreds in 64 innings for New South Wales.
However, South Australia provided him with a lifeline, which he has lavishly returned. After helping his team chase 270, the biggest fourth innings run chase in Shield final history, with an undefeated 126, he will be remembered as a South Australian hero. When he hit the winning runs, thousands of supporters rushed onto the pitch and sang his name as he was given his winner’s medal at the trophy presentation.
When Sangha remarked, “I thought my career was over,” “I was given another shot in South Australia. Really, I owe them everything. My career has been saved by them.
Three hundred runs, including one in his opening game of the season when South Australia defeated Tasmania in the equal-closest match in Shield history, and one in the final to win the trophy, were among Sangha’s 704 runs at 78.22 from just six games.
Together with Australia Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who amassed an incredible 105 in a stand of 202 after joining him at 28 for 3, he displayed his valour in the final.
When South Australia fell twice against Victoria at home and at Alice Springs in the 2016 and 2017 Shield finals, Carey and Jake Lehmann were the only two players in the starting lineup who had participated in those matches. He was pleased to have given South Australia a championship at last.
“It has been too long – and the history is what it is,” Carey stated.
“I didn’t think time was running out but I was just super keen to do everything I can to help us this year.”
The scenes following South Australia’s victory by four wickets were spectacular. Over 4,000 people had gathered at Karen Rolton Oval to see the fourth-day chase. No Shield game in Australia in recent memory would have had a crowd that large.
Most of the audience rushed to the pitch as Sangha and his batting partner Ben Manenti hugged in the middle after Sangha clipped the winning runs through midwicket. As they attempted to get off the ground to rejoice with their teammates, the two were separated by the throngs of people. Fans flocked to see Shane George and Peter McIntyre as they fled the pitch after the pair held out for a draw, evoking memories of 1996, the year South Australia last won the Shield in Adelaide.
In recent years, all of Shield’s final presentations have been held on the ground with relatively few spectators. Officials from Cricket Australia and the South Australian Cricket Association set up an improvised stage in the seats at the front of the first tier after thousands of people gathered in front of the single grandstand at Karen Rolton Oval, which also serves as the pavilion.
As the audience gazed up to watch captain Nathan McSweeney receive the Shield, South Australia’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, was in the crowd on the ground with his daughter on his shoulders.
When Brendan Doggett was named player of the match, he received one of the loudest applause. The 31-year-old, who had already won two Shield titles with Queensland, gave South Australia his best Shield cricket performance to date, going 11 for 140 in the match—the best totals ever in a final.
“I was probably a little bit naive with my first two,” Doggett stated.
“Just being young and being in a really strong side, I probably didn’t realise how hard they were to win until arriving here.”
Another former Queenslander, McSweeney, claimed that they had been greatly affected by the drought.
“When it has been a long time and you feel a little bit of external pressure as well, it makes it a little bit nicer,” McSweeney stated.
In his first season as coach, Ryan Harris has won the Shield and the One-Day Cup for South Australia. He expressed his hope that the win was only the start.
“We’re going to try and win a few now,” expressed Harris.
“We will definitely enjoy this one but I have already started thinking about next year.”
India
