South Australia 307 (Hunt 62, Scott 53) and 270 for 8 (Manenti 62*, Lehmann 60, Siddle 4-63) VICTORIA 232 (Harper 89, Manenti 5-73, Conway 4-39) and 207 (Kellaway 80, Chandrasinghe 52, Pope 6-74)

In a thrilling and somewhat controversial final at Adelaide Oval, Pope took 6 for 74 to set Victoria out for 207 in pursuit of an improbable target of 346.

Pope took four wickets in 13 minutes to win the match after Victoria looked likely to claim a draw with four wickets in hand and 30 minutes remaining before stumps.

The win marked South Australia’s first win over Victoria since 2015–16, the two teams having played 18 matches since then.

From there it seemed inevitable that Pope would guide South Australia to victory, before ending the match by catching Cameron McClure lbw trying to leave the ball.

Pope’s figures represented just the third five-wicket haul of his Sheffield Shield career and his first in four years after bursting onto the scene as a cult hero at the 2017 Under-19 World Cup.

Pope always looked the most threatening of South Australia’s bowlers on a deteriorating stretch of the fourth day. The leg-spinner was the only bowler to threaten Victoria’s batsmen in the opening session with Ashley Chandrasinghe and Kellaway well prepared.

Henry Thornton finally got the breakthrough in the middle session when he caught Chandrasinghe at slip with a fast rising ball. And while Thornton also removed Tom Rogers soon after, it was always Pope who looked most likely to take charge of the game.

And after Mitchell Perry chewed up 80 balls in a 25-over partnership with Kellaway, it was Pope who got the crucial wicket in the final hour.

The 24-year-old back-spinned a ball outside off-stump, dropped Perry for 9 as the No. 8 came back to cut. Kellaway’s wicket came to Pope before he caught Peter Siddle to leave Victoria nine wickets down.

And when number 11 McClure didn’t offer a shot at a ball that went straight, Pope had ensured South Australia would stay second on the ladder with a rare win over their old rivals.