Jason Sangha says South Australia saved his cricket career as Sheffield Shield celebrations continue

Having broken their 29-year drought between Sheffield Shield titles, South Australia hope it doesn't rain but it pours.

South Australia captured the coveted Shield for the first time since 1995/96 with a four-wicket win over Queensland in the final.

Set 270 runs to win, Jason Sangha's sterling unbeaten 126 and Alex Carey's classy 105 steered SA to 6-270 on day four of the decider in Adelaide.

South Australia triumphed with the highest successful run chase in a Shield final, eclipsing Victoria's 2-239 against NSW in 1990/91.

The South Australians now hold the Shield and the one-day trophy in the same season for the first time, having downed Victoria in the 50-over final on March 1.

Ben Manenti tries to leave the field but is surrounded by celebrating South Australian fans. (Getty Images: Sarah Reed)

And first-year coach Ryan Harris wants more.

"We're going to try and win a few now," Harris said.

"We will definitely enjoy this one but I have already started thinking about next year."

South Australia's Shield champion XI featured just two South Australian-born players, Carey and opening bat Conor McInerney.

The drought-breakers came from here, there and everywhere to South Australia, the driest state on the driest continent.

Harry Nielsen screams towards the crowd in celebration at Karen Rolton Oval. (Getty Images: Sarah Reed)

Some were discards, others were stale — all were seeking opportunity in what was the lost land of Australian cricket.

Since its 1995/96 Shield win, the state finished last 15 times, including 10 dreaded wooden spoons in 13 summers from 2009/10.

"It has been too long — and the history is what it is," said Carey, who played in losing Shield finals in 2016 and 2017.

"I didn't think time was running out but I was just super keen to do everything I can to help us this year."

Carey hit four tons in five Shield games this season and, on Saturday, combined for a match-defining 202-run partnership with Sangha to rescue SA from a precarious 3-28.

The crowd celebrates as the South Australian team is presented for the post-match award ceremony. (Getty Images: Sarah Reed)

Sydney-born Sangha, fittingly, entered SA sporting folklore by scoring the winning run — a year after being told by NSW he was no longer required.

"I thought my career was over," the 25-year-old said.

"South Australia gave me a second chance. I owe them everything, really. They have saved my career."

Carey and Sangha's partnership followed earlier heroics from SA paceman Brendan Doggett, who returned the best-ever match figures in a Shield final, 11-140.

Born in Rockhampton, Queensland, Doggett won two Shields with the Bulls and took the match-winning wicket with his last ball for the state in the 2021 final.

"I was probably a little bit naive with my first two," Doggett said.

"Just being young and being in a really strong side, I probably didn't realise how hard they were to win until arriving here."

Brisbane-born Nathan McSweeney, who turned 26 three weeks ago, has now captained South Australia to Shield and one-day titles, and Brisbane Heat to the 2023/24 BBL trophy.

McSweeney moved to Adelaide for the 2021/22 season and felt the weight of the Shield 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," he said

The South Australians weathered an extraordinary Queensland fightback.

The Bulls were skittled for 95 in their first innings, and South Australia replied with 271. Queensland were on the ropes at lunch on day three: 6-221, just 45 runs ahead.

But centuries to Jack Wildermuth and Jack Clayton gave the Bulls a chance.

"The Queensland spirit just lives so deep within," Bulls captain Marnus Labuschagne said.

"It is passed down from generation to generation.

"We kept digging in … and we found ourselves almost stealing the Shield off South Australia."

Labuschagne to reset after lean summer of scoring

After the match, Labuschagne said he will rest then head to English county cricket in a bid to rediscover peak form after his leanest run-scoring summer.

Labuschagne will have another stint with Welsh county side Glamorgan before Australia's World Test Championship final against South Africa in June.

In Test cricket in 2024/25, the Australian number three averaged 25.63 — his lowest return since his 2018 Test debut — and didn't score a century.

Marnus Labuschagne looks on as Jake Lehmann celebrates taking the catch that removed the Test batter cheaply in the Sheffield Shield final. (Getty Images: Mark Brake)

"It has been a little bit of a whirlwind," Labuschagne said.

"I have played some really good innings here and there, I have just probably not nailed it as much as I would have liked."

The 30-year-old, whose overall Test average has dipped to 46.76, said his dismissals in the final in Adelaide summed up his summer.

Labuschagne fell for a leg-side trap for a first-innings duck, caught when flicking to leg gully.

In the second dig, he was well-settled on 61 before being caught at deep square leg from a half-hearted swipe at a short ball.

"That dismissal, if I am playing my best I am not making those errors," he said.

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In the home Test series against India, Labuschagne played important knocks of 70 and 72 in Melbourne's Boxing Day Test.

But his other scores against the Indians were meagre — 12, one, two and six.

In the two-Test away series in Sri Lanka, the 30-year-old made 20, four and 26 not out.

Some pundits believe those returns could threaten Labuschagne's Test spot, given the looming return from injury of Cameron Green, the emergence of SA's triumphant Shield captain McSweeney, and the rise of opener Sam Konstas.

But Labuschagne said his summer wasn't all doom and gloom.

"There's a lot to like about how I played and how I went about it," he said.

"But just to get back to my best where I'm scoring hundreds, I am one of those players that just want to continue to grow and learn and keep finding that form."

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