Plenty to ponder after Shield final rehearsal ends in stalemate

Both sides have uninjured squads but that only makes selection extra difficult

There was significantly more to be gleaned from the 30 minutes immediately after a premature halt was called on the stalest of Sheffield Shield stalemates in Adelaide today than much of the two sessions' play that preceded it.

Having somehow conjured sufficient first-innings batting bonus points to assume front running for a berth in next week's Shield final, the Queensland players who had become increasingly disinterested as South Australia engaged in batting practice gathered excitedly in their dressing room.

There, the enlivened Bulls cheered every wicket that tumbled in other round 10 games in Hobart and Perth as the hopes New South Wales and Western Australia respectively held of tackling SA in the play-off at Karen Rolton Oval slowly extinguished.

By contrast, the home team's inner sanctum at KRO revealed a more sedate scene despite SA completing their most successful Shield season in 30 summers which had already earned them the right to host the grand final from next Wednesday.

While some SA players enjoyed a quiet beverage before getting back to work later this week, Ben Manenti was in the middle and bowling on the rock-hard day four match wicket to try and gauge whether his off-spin might prove a worthwhile option next week.

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

Manenti's dedication to SA's cause exemplified not only the team's refusal to leave any stone unturned in their quest for a first Shield title since 1995-96, but also highlighted the quandary coach Ryan Harris and his fellow selectors now face.

Had the Rolton Oval pitch offered encouragement to spin rather than the boon for batting that saw 1236 runs piled on in less than 11 sessions for the loss of 22 wickets in this week's game, SA might consider playing dual tweakers Manenti and Lloyd Pope in the final.

But the lack of reward for Queensland's Test-capped leggie Mitchell Swepson (2-272 from 66 overs) might convince the home team wrist-spin won't be a factor in the decider, and they therefore opt for Manenti's off-breaks alongside a four-pronged pace attack.

02:33 Play video Carey's sublime summer continues with another Shield ton

"We probably expected it to spin a bit," Harris said after both captains agreed no result was possible half an hour before tea today on a flat, hard surface.

"It's not breaking up, and there's barely a mark on it.

"I've got to talk with Trent (Kelly, Rolton's curator) and work out what exactly that looks like (for the final) but where we are now, we've got the option that if we need to play spin we can, and if we don't then we've got the quicks lining up as well.

"We rested two guys from this game which were (fast bowler Brendan) Doggett and (seam-bowling allrounder Liam) Scott, but we've got to work out whether we go spin again or whether we go the extra quick.

06:11 Play video South Australia v Queensland | Sheffield Shield | Day 4

"That's going to be the hard part because two quicks are bowling pretty well, and only one goes into the team."

With Doggett and SA's leading wicket-taker for the summer Nathan McAndrew almost certain to share the new ball next week, the "two quicks" jockeying for the remaining berth will be Jordan Buckingham and Henry Thornton.

Buckingham has played five of SA's 10 Shield games this season for 21 wickets at 25.76 and also earned Australia A selection, but fellow right-armer Thornton has proved potent at the back-end of the campaign and impressed with his short-ball spells on the flat KRO track this week.

Reigning One-Day Cup player of the year Scott has also proved a revelation this summer and is expected to return to the XI, leaving Manenti and Pope to battle out the spinner's role with the former's stronger batting credentials working in his favour.

SA's top six batting for the grand final is less problematic, with centuries for opener Conor McInerney, veteran Jake Lehmann and Test keeper Alex Carey in the first innings against Queensland before new recruit Jason Sangha completed a classy ton today.

04:14 Play video McInerney's maiden ton propels SA to big start

"There's a couple of guys in that top six … Conor McInerney, no doubt he's had a tough year and we've stuck by him," Harris said today of his batting stocks.

"The last month we thought he'd been pretty close, so we gave him a message to go out and express himself in this game because he's got nothing to lose, and he did and he made a hundred.

"Jake Lehmann (two centuries in past two games) has found a fifth gear, and then Alex Carey is having an unbelievable summer so it's nice to have them firing."

02:57 Play video Red-hot Lehmann cracks back-to-back Shield tons

As it became apparent Queensland would complete an audacious late-season run from bottom place to the final, their selection issues seemed far more straightforward as they aim to become the first team since NSW in 1989-90 to lift the Shield having won just three matches in the regular season.

Unavailable for the final-round game against SA, Bulls' Test opener Usman Khawaja will be an automatic inclusion for a meeting with a rival team against whom he averages almost 70 in Shield cricket.

"We understand Uzzie's at a different stage in his career," Queensland skipper Marnus Labuschagne said of the 38-year-old's absence in Adelaide this week.

"We understand if we want the best out of him he's going to need to make sure he's ready to go and he's fresh so he doesn't get himself injured.

"He's obviously a vital player for Australia and a really big asset for the national team, so having Uzzie back for the final it's almost the perfect result – him having the week off and then being able to come back.

"And step up in big games which we know he can do, he's done it many, many times before."

Test-capped seam bowler Michael Neser did not take the field for Queensland's second innings with the ball, conserving his energy in the expectation of reaching the final with the Bulls' part-timers Labuschagne (18 overs) and Matt Renshaw (10) filling the void today.

And while Labuschagne noted they have a full complement of fit players from which to choose a squad for their tilt at a third Shield title in seven years, he flagged the prospect of 19-year-old quick Callum Vidler retaining his berth after impressing against SA.

"There's a lot to like," Labuschagne said of the former Australia under-19 player who troubled some of SA's top order batters with pure pace in scorchingly hot conditions last Saturday.

"He bowls mid-140s (kph) potentially hitting 150s, and we saw he sort of ruffled them up, especially morning of day one.

"He could easily have had two-for there because we had that catch (off century maker Conor McInerney) that went between keeper and first slip.

"If he gets that, then all of a sudden he gets on a roll and the game could look a little bit different.

"I think that's the thing with a young guy that's got that X-factor, you want to play him because he can change the game for you on a wicket that was pretty docile."

Queensland would likely have surrendered their place in the final to Victoria if not for allrounder Jack Wildermuth's first Shield century in eight seasons (104 from 90 balls) which ensured his team banked sufficient batting bonus points.

02:53 Play video Wildermuth whacks 84-ball ton to end Shield century drought

Not only did the 31-year-old's blazing knock set SA thinking that Manenti might prove a similarly effective weapon with the bat at number eight come the final, it provided a useful tutorial for the Shield favourites on how to react in the face of such an onslaught.

In addition to scoring heavily against Queensland's first-choice bowling line-up on day one then reducing the Bulls' batting to 5-86 in reply before Wildermuth, Jimmy Peirson (128) and Neser (68) hit back, SA take vital inside knowledge into next week's decider.

Prior to his appointment to SA's coaching staff last season and his appointment as head coach this summer, Harris was part of the Bulls' off-field set-up and largely knows what to expect from the experienced Queensland group.

01:59 Play video Peirson withstands early heat to score season-defining ton

Although he admits that intel was not put properly into practice when Wildermuth was running rampant on Monday afternoon.

"I thought we bowled really, really well," Harris said of his charges who dismissed Queensland for 370 on the benign pitch.

"We just had that little period when Wildermuth came out and, having been up there (Brisbane) and knowing the player, I knew what he was going to do and maybe I didn't communicate that well enough with Nathan (McSweeney, SA skipper) or the bowlers.

"I thought we maybe panicked a little bit and went away from what we were trying to do with our plans.

"Not taking away from Jack, he batted really well.

"You can put as many fielders as you want on the fence but it doesn't help when he's hitting them over your head, so we've just got to make sure we're bowling the right balls."

Labuschagne paid tribute to his middle-order batters who ensured Queensland's season continued into the ultimate match, a remarkable turnaround after they failed to win any of their first five games this season.

And he's expecting a slightly more sporting pitch for next week's final, where a drawn result no longer guarantees the host team the Shield but rather the side that pockets most bowling and batting bonus points in the initial 100 overs of each first innings.

"Probably the surface started out a little bit hard, so it was hard for the wicket to break up," Labuschagne said of this week's drop-in pitch at Karen Rolton Oval.

"If the wicket was probably a little bit softer it would break up and spin a bit more later in the game.

"Usually when we play on Adelaide Oval wickets it spins early on day one and then late on day five.

"That's what we're expecting (for the final), but they've got the home advantage so not sure what they're going to prepare.

"It won't be too far off that, but I'd be surprised if they (SA) went down that flat route again."

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