McSweeney led SA to its first one-day title in 13 years with a comprehensive 64-run defeat of Victoria at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night. The double of a winning a one-day crown and the Shield in the same season has been achieved 11 times – but never by SA.
Western Australia (five times), NSW (four times) and Victoria (twice) have completed the double. But McSweeney knows his adopted state, for so long the proverbial whipping boys of the domestic scene, may never have a better chance than now.
“It’s a little bit of a monkey off the back,” McSweeney said after collecting the inaugural Dean Jones Trophy. “We’ll enjoy it but there’s a bigger picture – there’s a Shield final to play. Everyone loves winning. And for us to get a taste of it, hopefully it kick-starts us – I don’t think we’ll get sick of it.”
SA haven’t won a Shield since 1995-96 but currently lead the four-day competition and are in prime position to host the final. With two games remaining, offering six points for each win, McSweeney’s team hold an 11-point break from next-best NSW. And McSweeney believes SA’s 50-over success will feed into the four-day format.
“It has obviously been a long time between titles,” he said. “The players we’ve got in our stable now have shown over the last couple years that we can do it.
“It’s just, unfortunately, we had a bad hour in a Shield game or we had a bad hour in a one-day game and it has taken us out of the competition. We’re getting a little bit more consistent, as seen in the Shield table as well. So hopefully it’s the start of some strong years and it’s not just a one-off.”
“Something Ryan Harris has brought in to us is the belief,” he said. “We have defended 160 twice this year in the one-day comp. We got bowled out for 90 in the last Shield game and won. From positions that we shouldn’t be winning, we are. It’s a massive hats off to Ryano and the coaching staff.”
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