Credits: Cricket Australia
South Australia pulled off a thrilling last-ball win after their counterparts fumbled while running in between the wickets. During the Sheffield Shield 2024-25 game between South Australia and Tasmania, the formers registered an intense win and beat their counterparts by a margin of two runs on the final ball of the match. Tasmania needed four runs from the final ball to chase down a huge score of 429 runs for a thrilling win. However, the last ball batting mixup between Lawrence Neil-Smith and Riley Meredith cost them a match.
In the last over of the game, Tasmania required seven runs to win the game with two wickets remaining. On the first ball delivered by Wes Agar, Neil-Smith took a single. It was then followed by Gabe Bell taking a dot delivery, and a three-ball duck. Meredith then came to bat and took a single. Later, on the final ball, Meredith was required to hit four runs to help the side register a win. However, after hitting the ball, both the batters got mixed-up in decisions, which led to a run out. Tasmania got knocked out for 426 and lost the game by only two runs.
South Australia acquire top spot of standings, Tasmania slip to last
Owing to this thrilling win, South Australia have acquired top spot of the standings while Tasmania are now sitting at the last. The game saw Mitch Owen scoring 53 runs off 39 balls while Brad Hope came up with a notable knock of 69 runs. Hope was eventually caught on the boundary trying to hook Wes Agar. However, with Owen firing Tasmania still looked a chance. The Tigers were very much hopeful of claiming the win before they ended up losing 4 for 4 from the final nine balls of the game.
Earlier during the game, Tim Ward scored his first century since his maiden Shield hundred back in October 2021. Following the game, South Australia captain Ben Manenti said, "I thought we were gone, then back in it, then gone again and back in it. I was content with the draw more than anything. But Wes nailed six beautiful yorkers back to back. Forty minutes ago I thought they would (win) it five down. Realistically we needed two wickets and they needed six runs. They could have hit six singles to the deep guy and walked it home.”
