Weatherald-Carey stand leads South Australia into final

South Australia's openers Jake Weatherald and Alex Carey set the Redbacks on course for a vast elimination playoff victory over Victoria to set up a domestic limited-overs final against Western Australia at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Saturday.

After Victoria captain Peter Handscomb sent South Australia in to bat, Weatherald and Carey were not separated until the 37th over, by which time they had added 212 and laid the platform for a mighty total. Thanks to the free swinging of Travis Head, Tom Cooper and Alex Ross, South Australia posted 339 after a rain delay reduced the game to 48 overs each. Victoria's target swelled to 345 via Duckworth Lewis Stern calculations.

In response, Victoria were off-balance from the moment Daniel Worrall bowled Aaron Finch in the first over of the innings. They never seriously threatened to chase down the target as only Travis Dean made it past 30 - even then by a single run. Worrall finished with five wickets, and was aided by a trio of victims for Adam Zampa, back in the team after the India tour.

Weatherald and Carey have proven a productive partnership for South Australia in the tournament, and were quickly into stride against Victoria. Though Weatherald did give up a chance, the pair did the ideal job of blunting the two new white balls and then scoring freely in preparation for a concerted later attack on the Victorian bowlers.

Carey, who has been mentioned as a possible Australian wicketkeeper of the future, was dismissed prior to reaching three figures for his state for the first time, but Weatherald went on to his second hundred of the tournament, leaving plenty of room for the South Australian middle order to accelerate. They did so to the tune of 117 runs from the final 48 balls of the innings, primarily via Tom Cooper, who galloped to 50 from 22 balls - equalling his fellow squad member Jake Lehmann's effort in the same tournament.

Sizing up their tall target, Victoria were granted a wild first-up wide from Worrall to Marcus Harris, but he compensated with a nip-backer to perforate Finch's first-ball forward push. Wickets tumbled quickly thereafter, and when Glenn Maxwell was lbw sweeping at Zampa, Victoria had slipped to 5 for 85. Worrall came back to help mop up any remaining resistance, sending South Australia into their second tournament final in three seasons.