no subject
Sat, Mar. 29th, 2025 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annarti
Man it's been a long time since I used this icon. That man has not played cricket in about 15 years.
WE WON THE SHEFFIELD SHIELD!!!
The Sheffield Shield is our domestic long-form cricket competition, which mostly people don't much give a shit about (like they get an attendance of a dozen people through the season) but it is the competition that feeds into the Australian Test team, which is the absolute peak of cricket.
South Australia hasn't won the Sheffield Shield in 29 years. I was 10 the last time we won, and I didn't register it at all. Darren Lehmann, who was babby in that last winning team? His son, Jake, was 3 at the time. Jake was playing in this game. He scored a century in the first innings.
Full context, this has been really building up since we cemented our spot a the top of the ladder and hence hosting the final, which has been like three weeks. Before, even, since like halfway through the season and we were still top of the ladder. Even that is umprecedented. Like still trying not to count chickens etc, but omg hope was ignited. And then we got to host it, holy shit. EXCEPT. Because it's officially footy season now, the AFL decreed they couldn't play it at Adelaide Oval. I mean it's only been the home of cricket in SA for the last 155 years and we haven't hosted the Shield final in almost 30 but fine. FINE. It's FINE. Cricket Australia offered to reschedule it to starting on Monday so it'd have a scheduled finish of yesterday for the footy on Sunday, and the Adelaide Oval staff all said that'd be plenty of time to turn it around from cricket to footy, but nope. AFL said no. Arseholes. The Shield final has always been in March, it's the footy season that keeps getting longer and longer and encroaching on cricket season. We ALLOW you to play on Adelaide Oval in what is still CRICKET SEASON.
So anyway that spat has been dominating headlines since last week, so this final has been in the conscience for a while now. I do wonder if they'd have gotten the same attendance if that controversy hadn't happened. There were like 5000 people there. It was so great.
Anyway.
We'd been pretty much dominating since day one. Yesterday, the Queenslanders fought back somewhat and set us a target today of 270. Tricky in the final innings--the previous record winning run chase was like 200 or something?--and we lost three quick wickets in the first session of the day, but then Carey and Sangha dug in, each made a century, and WE WON. TWENTY NINE YEARS.
As soon as Sangha hit the winning runs, the crowd of about 5000 jumped the picket fence and stormed the ground, swarming the two players as they were laughing and celebrating. We all ran up to the stand where the players all were and waited for presentations. Which. I mean. Normally presentations are done on the ground but, considering how much they've been showing the crowd storming the ground after the 95/96 final win through the week, they really should've expected a pitch invasion. I do hope they prepared for this. Didn't look it but maybe they did, idk. Anyway, they moved all the cameras and presentation stuff up to the balcony, and every new prop that came out got a huge cheer. The Shield itself got a roar like the team had come out because that thing is OURS NOW. For the first time in almost THREE DECADES. The SACA staff who were bringing out all the stuff were laughing every time their movements got cheered. Like, Shield out, big cheer. Carry over to the stand, crowd builds with anticipation, "woahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH EYYYYYY!!!" It was just so delightful, so much fun, so much excitement from the crowd.
Then the boys came out and they were so happyyyyy just looking out over THOUSANDS of people when they're used to like the echoing claps of like five people. And they each had their chance to raise their hands to the crowd and make us go WOOOO again.
omfg it was so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. I've never stormed the ground before, it was awesome 8D
Hopefully we don't have to wait until Jake Lehmann's son is playing until the next one XD
WE WON THE SHEFFIELD SHIELD!!!
The Sheffield Shield is our domestic long-form cricket competition, which mostly people don't much give a shit about (like they get an attendance of a dozen people through the season) but it is the competition that feeds into the Australian Test team, which is the absolute peak of cricket.
South Australia hasn't won the Sheffield Shield in 29 years. I was 10 the last time we won, and I didn't register it at all. Darren Lehmann, who was babby in that last winning team? His son, Jake, was 3 at the time. Jake was playing in this game. He scored a century in the first innings.
Full context, this has been really building up since we cemented our spot a the top of the ladder and hence hosting the final, which has been like three weeks. Before, even, since like halfway through the season and we were still top of the ladder. Even that is umprecedented. Like still trying not to count chickens etc, but omg hope was ignited. And then we got to host it, holy shit. EXCEPT. Because it's officially footy season now, the AFL decreed they couldn't play it at Adelaide Oval. I mean it's only been the home of cricket in SA for the last 155 years and we haven't hosted the Shield final in almost 30 but fine. FINE. It's FINE. Cricket Australia offered to reschedule it to starting on Monday so it'd have a scheduled finish of yesterday for the footy on Sunday, and the Adelaide Oval staff all said that'd be plenty of time to turn it around from cricket to footy, but nope. AFL said no. Arseholes. The Shield final has always been in March, it's the footy season that keeps getting longer and longer and encroaching on cricket season. We ALLOW you to play on Adelaide Oval in what is still CRICKET SEASON.
So anyway that spat has been dominating headlines since last week, so this final has been in the conscience for a while now. I do wonder if they'd have gotten the same attendance if that controversy hadn't happened. There were like 5000 people there. It was so great.
Anyway.
We'd been pretty much dominating since day one. Yesterday, the Queenslanders fought back somewhat and set us a target today of 270. Tricky in the final innings--the previous record winning run chase was like 200 or something?--and we lost three quick wickets in the first session of the day, but then Carey and Sangha dug in, each made a century, and WE WON. TWENTY NINE YEARS.
As soon as Sangha hit the winning runs, the crowd of about 5000 jumped the picket fence and stormed the ground, swarming the two players as they were laughing and celebrating. We all ran up to the stand where the players all were and waited for presentations. Which. I mean. Normally presentations are done on the ground but, considering how much they've been showing the crowd storming the ground after the 95/96 final win through the week, they really should've expected a pitch invasion. I do hope they prepared for this. Didn't look it but maybe they did, idk. Anyway, they moved all the cameras and presentation stuff up to the balcony, and every new prop that came out got a huge cheer. The Shield itself got a roar like the team had come out because that thing is OURS NOW. For the first time in almost THREE DECADES. The SACA staff who were bringing out all the stuff were laughing every time their movements got cheered. Like, Shield out, big cheer. Carry over to the stand, crowd builds with anticipation, "woahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH EYYYYYY!!!" It was just so delightful, so much fun, so much excitement from the crowd.
Then the boys came out and they were so happyyyyy just looking out over THOUSANDS of people when they're used to like the echoing claps of like five people. And they each had their chance to raise their hands to the crowd and make us go WOOOO again.
omfg it was so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. I've never stormed the ground before, it was awesome 8D
Hopefully we don't have to wait until Jake Lehmann's son is playing until the next one XD