Led by the ‘Nathan Mc’s’, the West End Redbacks have finished their 2023/24 Marsh Sheffield Shield season on a high, beating Tasmania by 135 runs at Blundstone Arena.
Nathan McSweeney hit the only century of the match and Nathan McAndrew took a game high eight wickets to help secure the win.
The Redbacks were sent into bat on a very green pitch, leaving inexperienced openers Kyle Brazell and Conor McInerney – parachuted in for his first Shield game in four years after recently tonning up in a Second XI match – a tough task.
It was one they rose to however, setting a solid foundation at the top of the order before a mix up resulted in Brazell being run out for 29.
The majority of the middle order got starts, however it was only Nathan McSweeney who could convert and he went on to make his third century of the Shield season.
Ben Manenti (29), Harry Nielsen (27) and Brendan Doggett (42 balls faced) provided lower order support as the Redbacks went on to make 271, with McSweeney finishing on 117.
A solid total on the board, McAndrew ran havoc in the final 12 overs of day one, taking three wickets to have Tasmania wobbling at 3-27 at stumps.
Day two got off to the perfect start for the Redbacks, with Doggett getting a wicket on the very first ball, removing the experienced Matthew Wade.
Doggett continued on after that and had early figures of 3-11 after claiming the wickets of Gabe Bell and Beau Webster soon after.
It didn’t take long for McAndrew to pick up where he left off the day before, getting two consecutive middle-order wickets to claim his fourth five-wicket haul of the summer.
A Doggett seed knocked over Kieran Elliot’s stumps before McAndrew picked up the final wicket in the 37th over to bowl Tasmania out for 123, Doggett and McAndrew taking every wicket between them.
The Redbacks started the second innings with a 148-run lead, which they needed after Brazell’s 30 was the highest score in the top order.
Slumping to 6-80, Manenti and Nielsen did another rescue job, their 57-run partnership getting the lead over 280.
Nielsen went on to make his fourth half-century of the season and took the total to 175, having a lead of 323 runs when the innings came to an end.
In the perfect start to the defence, Buckingham removed Wade in only the third over, with stumps called just one over later.
Day three also featured the ideal start for the Redbacks, with Buckingham and McAndrew both striking with their first over of the day.
It didn’t take long for Doggett to join in either, as he claimed the wicket of Tasmanian captain Jordan Silk, the score reading 4-45.
Charlie Wakim was undone by a beautiful Buckingham ball and at lunch the home side was 5-113, trailing by 221 runs.
There was yet another perfect start to a session, with Doggett getting Jake Doran’s wicket first over after lunch, before Buckingham followed up a few overs later to remove Bradley Hope, both caught in slips.
The next wicket was McAndrew’s 48th of the season – the most Shield wickets taken since Nathan Lyon took 42 in the 2020/21 season – taking him to equal top of the Shield wicket-taking tally.
Doggett and Buckingham cleaned up the rest of the tail – the final wicket being Buckingham’s fifth – and South Australia secured a comprehensive 135-run win in their final match of the season.
McSweeney was named man of the match as the lone centurion, with his ton leaving him with 762 runs for the season, the third most in the competition.