Cosgrove hundred ends Tasmania's final hopes

South Australia 253 and 5 for 338 (Cosgrove 118, Harris 82) beat Tasmania 301 and 9 for 289 dec by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Points table

Mark Cosgrove's 118 drove South Australia to third place and ended Tasmania's brave push to join Victoria in Friday's final. The Tigers had fought back on the second and third days, but could not fulfil their last aim of ten wickets on Sunday, finishing with five as the Redbacks reached 338.

Tasmania declared on their overnight score of 9 for 289 and were in with a chance until Cosgrove arrived. Cosgrove spent most of the season out of the side, but capped his recall with centuries in two of the final three games. He could have remained unbeaten but tried to clear the boundary with one run remaining and was out for 118.

Daniel Harris steered the early stages of the chase, but when he left 18 short of a century the Redbacks were a nervous 4 for 189. Cosgrove played freely and Graham Manou, one of a host of in-form glovemen around the country, provided excellent assistance with 55 not out.

James Smith started the pursuit aggressively with 31 off 29 before he slipped against Luke Butterworth, who completed a five-wicket haul and a half-century on Saturday. Klinger, who has a competition-high 1203 runs, went after lunch on 23 when he nicked Jason Krejza to Dan Marsh at slip and Callum Ferguson (11) edged to Tim Paine. However, the afternoon belonged to the Redbacks, who leaped over Tasmania after winning three matches in a row for the first time since 1994-95.