South Australia will host the One Day Cup final despite going down in a tight contest against Tasmania at Adelaide Oval today.
Led by a Mackenzie Harvey masterclass, South Australia set Tasmania 330 runs to win. However, despite the combined bowling efforts of the team, the visitors saw the run chase home 8 down with only an over to spare.
Earlier in the day, Harvey’s 129 was the backbone on the batting innings, with contributions from Nielsen (41), Drew (63), Sangha (23), and Lehmann (23).
Harvey used the short square boundaries to perfection and paced his innings superbly. The left-hander played himself in while rotating the strike, before pouncing with a flurry of boundaries to accelerate the run-rate.
Drew continued to show his List-A talent, handily keeping an above average strike rate with inventive running and gap finding. The number 3 played with the field and made it a headache for the opposing captain.
Sangha, Lehmann, and the tail end made sure to find the rope on regular occasions as the innings came to a close, pushing South Australia well beyond 300.
An onslaught from Mitchell Owen (149) placed Tasmania in prime condition, before a combined effort by the South Australian bowling cartel wrestled the match back into even standings.
Once again, a partnership threatened to see Tasmania home early, but as the bells of St Peter’s Cathedral rung continued to ring, Lloyd Pope (2-46) snatched the game back into the favour of South Australia, collecting back-to-back wickets to break open the innings.
Spin partner Ben Manenti (1-47), followed suit and tied down an end as the innings came to a close, snagging the vital wicket on Wakim on the way.
In the end, a 9th wicket partnership was enough to see Tasmania home.
South Australia will host Victoria for the One Day Cup Final this Saturday, 1 March, with the winners being the first team to hoist the Dean Jones Trophy.