Perry’s dramatic injection helps Vics close in on Shield title

Victoria’s super-sub Mitch Perry stole the show with an iconic Sheffield Shield final moment as Fergus O’Neill’s all-round heroics put Victoria on the brink of glory on a bizarre and eventful third day at the Junction Oval.

Sam Elliott, who won a tight selection battle over Perry leading into the five-day decider, suffered a hamstring injury and was able to be replaced by Perry only minutes before South Australia commenced their second innings under a Cricket Australia injury-substitute rule trial.

It triggered a chaotic sequence of events with the Vics’ fielding substitutes, but when Perry was thrown the ball on Saturday afternoon, the right-armer nipped his first ball back into SA captain Nathan McSweeney’s pads and won the lbw call.

It sparked frenzied celebrations, and was emblematic of Victoria’s enviable pace depth which has combined to leave the defending champions at 5-94 at stumps, only 31 runs ahead.

“It was literally a three-minute conversation there with Bucky (Victoria coach Chris Rogers),” said Perry, who was runner-up in Shield player-of-the-season voting.

“He said, ‘I think you’re going now, mate’. So I had to quickly do my run up and take some medication and get ready to bowl.

“I was just wanting to get into the game sort of thing … I had Harry and Pete (Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb) come up to me and they’re like, ‘Just take a deep breath … just get yourself into the game’.

‘”It’s a bit of a free hit, to be fair. No one’s expecting me to go out there and dominate the game.

“Sutho (captain Will Sutherland) said to me that a few of the lads have been finding it pretty difficult to pitch it up, and I reckon that was the only one I pitched up in the whole spell.

“It came out nicely. I couldn’t have asked for a better ball to come out first ball.”

Elliott is believed to have hurt his hamstring during SA’s first innings and attempted to warm-up after Victoria were bowled out for 261. But the paceman then indicated he was unable to bowl.

Perry, who had been running the drinks for the first two and a half days of the game, went to warm up to bowl in the nets, which he was told off for by match officials.

“I wasn’t allowed to do that for some reason,” said Perry.

The umpires had also pulled up Victoria for trying to send out their assistant coach, Ben Rohrer, to field in Elliott’s place while Perry got himself right to take the field.

Their listed 12th man Blake MacDonald is playing in the Premier Cricket grand final. An argument between Sutherland and the on-field umpires delayed the start to the final session.

Back-up wicketkeeper Jai Lemire was eventually sent out instead, and the situation got stranger when Xavier Crone, who had been commentating for cricket.com.au’s live stream, rushed downstairs to put borrowed whites on to replace Lemire.

South Australia coach Ryan Harris indicated his side was unlikely to take the chance afforded to them under the rules to make their own substitute.

Lead quick Nathan McAndrew has shown signs of soreness but Harris suggested they would resist the temptation to bring in a fresh bowler in Wes Agar.

“It’s always frustrating when it’s against you, isn’t it? It’s a shit rule unless you make the most of it,” said Harris of Perry’s injection into the match.

“Is it the right rule? It has been (there) all year, so it’s not as if it’s just come in for this game … It’s only been used a couple of times, but it’s ideally not used in a final.

“We thought about (bringing Agar in). But I’m pretty happy with the way the boys bowled … our boys are feeling good, they bowled well so I’m not going to pot someone and say ‘move over’.”

Perry said he felt sympathy for Elliott after his injury, insisting there were no hard feelings after he was initially being left out.

“Sammy definitely deserved his place in the team and it was probably the right decision at the start of the game,” said Perry.

“Sammy had a cracking year, and one of us was going to be disappointed at the end of the day. I’m absolutely gutted for him to not be able to play the full five days and hopefully I can just play a part.

“I totally understood. You can’t really complain too much when a bloke has taken 33 wickets at about 11 in less games that I played. I just said to Buck, ‘I totally understand, and hopefully we can bring it home’.”

Perry’s cameo came after a relentless new-ball burst from the Vics’ ace new-ball pair of Scott Boland and O’Neill.

Boland dismissed Mackenzie Harvey for the fourth time in as many innings during a fearsome first spell after O’Neill had trapped Henry Hunt lbw, the openers’ exits leaving SA 2-10.

O’Neill has had the golden touch all game, backing up his three first-innings wickets by top scoring with 64no. The right-hander, who turned 25 yesterday, ran out of partners when Victoria were knocked over for 261 before tea, taking a 63-run advantage.

Marcus Harris and Ollie Peake had earlier extended their partnership to 44, grinding against the visitors’ accurate seamers, with young gun Peake playing a series of eye-catching strokes.

But the 19-year-old had no answer to a near-unplayable McAndrew delivery, while Liam Scott, who had caused Harris all manner of issues from over the wicket through his 133-ball stay, finally found the left-hander’s outside edge on 40.

At 6-157, the Vics were at risk of ceding ground responding to SA’s first-innings 198 before Sutherland held firm in a 55-run union with O’Neill.

Sheffield Shield final 2025-26

March 26-30: Victoria v South Australia, Junction Oval, Melbourne

The Sheffield Shield final will be broadcast live on cricket.com.au, the CA Live app, Foxtel and Kayo Sports