The West End Redbacks have finished their Marsh Cup season on a high, beating Queensland by five wickets on Wednesday afternoon.
Jordan Buckingham (six wickets), Thomas Kelly (81 runs) and Alex Carey (eight catches) all were major contributors to the all-round win at Karen Rolton Oval.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Henry Thornton got the Redbacks off to a flying start with a superb yorker shattering Max Bryant’s stumps for a duck.
He continued bowling heat and got another reward the following over, removing the other Queensland opener, Ben McDermott, to have them 2-14.
It was the 15th over that saw Buckingham get the first of his six wickets, Matt Renshaw caught behind.
The next over, he and Carey combined again to get the wicket of Jack Clayton and the pair did it again the very next ball, with the Test keeper taking a spectacular, diving catch down the leg-side to remove Jack Wildermuth.
Though he didn’t compete the hat-trick, Buckingham had figures of 3-6 off his first four overs to have Queensland 5-47.
A 100-run partnership followed between captain Marnus Labuschagne and debutant Dylan McLachlan, with Buckingham naturally being the one to break the partnership.
Carey took his sixth catch, this time off the spin bowling of Nathan McSweeney, to remove the debutant with just under 10 overs remaining.
Buckingham once again took two wickets in an over, the two tailender scalps earning him his first List A five-wicket haul and best figures, significantly improving his previous best of 3-36.
Of course, the innings was wrapped up with by another Carey catch – his eight in the innings making him only the third wicketkeeper in List A history to that feat, alongside two English keepers playing against teams that weren’t established county outfits, and the first Australian to take eight catches in a List A innings.
That wicket concluded Queensland’s innings on 218, the lowest Marsh Cup total at Karen Rolton Oval.
It was a new look opening pair when the Redbacks came out to chase, with Carey and last matches’ debutant Jake Winter at the top of the order.
Jake Fraser-McGurk was listed to open, but after sitting out most of the fielding innings with back soreness, couldn’t come into bat until the Redbacks’ fifth wicket fell.
Both Carey and Winter got starts, but their wickets brought McSweeney and Kelly to the crease, with the duo going on to have the biggest partnership of the match.
The duo both raised the bat to celebrate half centuries, with Kelly’s game-high score of 81 off only 66 ball his highest score for South Australia in all formats.
When Kelly got out, the Redbacks only needed 56 more runs and Nielsen (27*), McAndrew (17*) and Manenti (13) were able to chase that down with nearly six overs spare – Fraser-McGurk not even required to bat.
The Redbacks will be hoping to maintain their momentum as they face Queensland again later in the week, this time in a Marsh Sheffield Shield clash at Adelaide Oval.
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