Doggett a chance for Shield final after South Australia qualify on bonus points

Queensland were bowled out for 178 in the first innings against Tasmania meaning they will not get the required bonus points to pass South Australia even with a win

Alex Malcolm

Published: Mar 15, 2026, 4:18 AM (6 hrs ago)

Brendan Doggett is a chance to make a miraculous return from a hamstring tear in the Sheffield Shield final after South Australia qualified to face Victoria in the decider in what coach Ryan Harris described as "unique circumstances."

SA had began the final round against Victoria in Melbourne thinking they had to win to make a second successive final but when Queensland failed to register enough first-innings bonus points against Tasmania on day two, it meant SA got safe passage through without needing to win.

The result means that Usman Khawaja, who was missing the match against Tasmania due to the birth of his third child, will not play another game for Queensland after confirming he would retire from first-class cricket at the end of the season. It means Khawaja finishes his Sheffield Shield career on 93 matches including 29 for New South Wales and 64 for Queensland. He made 6510 Shield runs out of 15589 first-class runs at a Shield average 46.83 including 19 centuries out of 43 in his first-class career.

With the final set to take place on March 26 in Melbourne, it does open the door for Doggett to make a remarkable comeback after suffering what appeared to be a season-ending hamstring injury in the draw against New South Wales on February 8. He is making a push to be fit for the final with Harris revealing that more will be known in the coming days.

"I'm probably going to get a report on that either tonight or tomorrow morning," Harris said. "I think he's got a catch up tomorrow with [strength and conditioning staff] back home. He's been bowling. I know that. Look, it'd be nice to have him available.

"He's come back quite quick compared to what I was originally told. If we play him it's going to be a risk. But no doubt if he thinks he can do it we'll play him, and everything points in the right direction. But if it pings again, it didn't require surgery last time, if it goes and there's [Tests] in August that potentially is pretty big for him. So we'll weigh all that up over the next week. It's not very long. But we'll see how that goes."

Queensland were bowled out for 178 on day two of the match in Hobart after bowling Tasmania out for 198 on day one. Queensland started the final round in third place on the table on 36.38 points, 5.78 points behind SA who were on 42.16 in second spot behind Victoria's 57.98. Going into the round Queensland needed to win and SA needed to lose to Victoria for Queensland to have a chance but they have failed to gain enough bonus points in the first innings after SA posted 305 in their first innings against Victoria to bank 1.05 points.

In the Shield competition there are six points for a victory, and one for a draw, supplemented by bonus points which work like this: 0.01 of a bonus point for every run over 200 scored during the first 100 overs of their first innings (350 after 100 overs registers 1.5 bonus points), and 0.1 of a bonus point for every wicket a team takes during the first 100 overs of their opponent's first innings (ten wickets before 100 first-innings registers 1 point).

Queensland banked 1 point for taking 10 wickets but zero for failing to make 200 runs with the bat against Tasmania. At the time they were bowled out midway through day two, SA had taken three first innings wickets against Victoria to bank a further 0.3 bonus points which is enough to put them 6.13 points clear of Queensland. Even if SA did not take another first innings wicket, and if they went on to lose to Victoria and Queensland went on to beat Tasmania, SA would still qualify for the final via the bonus points.

Harris said he told his players at tea on day two of the match at the Junction Oval.

"It's a unique scenario," Harris said after play in Melbourne. "I haven't been in that before. We spoke about it as a staff. They're going to check their phones anyway, so just obviously, yep, great, we're in it. But we sort of focus on this because we don't want to be in the field for another whole day.

"It's nice to be coming back here in a couple of weeks and challenging for the Shield again."

SA are chasing back-to-back titles for the first time in the state's history following their 29-year drought-breaking title last summer, while Victoria are chasing their first Shield since 2018-19.

Harris said he had experience some sleepless nights in the lead up to trying to qualify for another Shield final.

"It's been a nerve-wracking week," Harris said.

"I haven't had a lot of sleep over the last week thinking about it. The last couple of nights has been pretty hectic.

"It's something that when I took on the role, I didn't want to win it last year and have another big break in having a crack at another one. So it means a lot to me and my staff and the organisation."

Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

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