“Lloyd’s been great for us this year and his efforts are a great reason why we’re here and playing in a Shield final,” McSweeney said. “I think Karen Rolton Oval is typically a tough ground to bowl spin on. The wicket has a little bit more moisture in it. So hence we’re going with an extra [seam] bowler. It’s a tough decision, but I think when you’re in finals you’ve got to make tough decisions. And unfortunately he’s the one that’s missing out.”
Buckingham, meanwhile, has taken 21 wickets at 25.76 this season and bowled well for Australia A this summer. Doggett has likewise starred for Australia A in between taking 22 scalps at 29.86 fin Shield cricket.
South Australia did not push for an outright win against Queensland last week to conserve energy ahead of the final. They had the Bulls 86 for 5 after piling up 614 for 7 declared but ended up needing 113.5 overs to bowl them out for 370 as the surface flattened out, with Jimmy Peirson and Jack Wildermuth posting lower-order centuries.
“I think the wicket looks like there’ll be a little bit more life in it, slightly more in it for the bowlers,” McSweeney said. “But I think typically here it’s hard to take 20 wickets. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve got an extra day to try and take them now, so I think it’ll be a really good cricket wicket.”
But despite the squad being made up of so many recruited players, McSweeney believes their journey together and their struggles over recent seasons in building a tight-knit team culture means a Shield triumph would mean as much to them as it would to the rusted on SACA members who have been starved of success for so long.
“A lot of the boys have come from interstate,” McSweeney said. “We’ve been giving opportunity for a team that hasn’t had heaps of success, but we’ve been able to build it over the last few years as a group, and that’ll just cap it off I think.
“We’ve had a fair bit of change, but I think the core group of players have been here for a long time now, and we’re slowly starting to see the success from all the hard work, and that’s paying off now. It’ll mean so much and hopefully we can get it done.”
South Australia squad: Nathan McSweeney (capt), Jordan Buckingham, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Henry Hunt, Jake Lehmann, Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Conor McInerney, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Henry Thornton
