Sheffield Shield: South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas adds weight to bid for final at Adelaide Oval

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has added his muscle to a looming standoff between Cricket Australia and the AFL over a historic Sheffield Shield final. Cricket officials are hoping the AFL will allow them to reinstall the drop-in wickets on Adelaide Oval for South Australia — who have not won the title since 1996 — for the final at the end of the month, between football matches. South Australia sealed their place in the final thanks to an inspiring century from favourite son Jake Lehmann to chase down a monster fourth-innings target of 300 against Victoria at Junction Oval on Sunday. The five-day final is fixtured to begin on Wednesday March 26, but is now expected to be moved to begin two days earlier, so that it can be slotted between Port Adelaide’s Saturday clash with Richmond on March 22 and Adelaide’s meeting with North Melbourne the following Sunday. The wicket was removed from Adelaide Oval in recent days and the ground reconfigured for football. That includes the length of the grass being shorter for cricket and the shape of the ground changed as well as the drop-in wicket. Malinauskas is also a key figure for the AFL. He was a driving force behind the league’s highly-popular Gather Round concept, to be held in Adelaide for a third season next month. The Ryan Harris-coached side has been domestic cricket’s unstoppable force this season and last week won the one-day competition in front of a strong crowd at the same venue. They have not played in a shield final since they lost back-to-back editions to Victoria in 2016 and 2017. The Age is reporting the SACA will offer free admission if the game is played at the State’s traditional home of cricket. Malinauskas revealed on ABC at the weekend he had become involved in the negotiations. “This issue has been drawn to my attention, I did spend a bit of time on the weekend making a few calls,” he said. “I’m pretty optimistic that with some hard-headed reason, there’s a compromise to be had here that would allow it to be played at Adelaide Oval. “But everyone is going to have to give a little bit. There’s a whole bunch of moving parts to this, but after the calls I’ve made, I’m pretty optimistic we’re going to get the right outcome if wiser heads prevail. “I think the Crows have an appetite for pragmatism here, and that is to their great credit. The AFL’s got a role to play.”