"GO THE mighty Redbacks. Back-to-back champions. Woohooo..."

It'd been less than half hour since South Australia had sealed their second consecutive Sheffield Shield championship in Melbourne for the first time in history. And the streets in Adelaide were beginning to soak in the enormity of their team's achievement. Including people rolling down their car windows and expressing their excitement with unbridled gusto.

Every cricket fan in the city had spent Monday morning watching or listening to the goings on at Junction Oval. Thanks to the South Australian bowlers led by Nathan McAndrew though, they didn't have to stay away from work for too long. Or pretend to be working at any rate. It took the defending champions less than 11 overs to wrap up the Victorian innings on the fifth morning to complete a comprehensive 56-run win in what turned out to be a terrifically nail-biting contest. A dramatic collapse of 7/37 in 14 overs proving to be the decisive knockout punch for the home team who had gone into the final as firm favourites.

South Australia's encore moment of glory wasn't being received back home only through overt exuberance. It was on most lips as the morning wore on. There was the delightful lady wheeling her shopping trolley who whispered, "how good was that from our boys", as she walked past. Before revealing that the state cricketers are often spotted at her son's cafe in St Peters, in the eastern part of Adelaide. There's the couple who stop you and declare that the South Australian men's cricket team deserves every plaudit they deserve. "There needs to be a statewide holiday for us to celebrate this win," they say.

And then there's South Australian legend KG Cunningham, former Sheffield Shield winner himself back in the 1960s and 70s, shouting, "You little beauty.." on the radio before raving about the brilliance of Alex Carey. And deservedly so.

By midday, "Redback-to-back" was among the most trending catchphrases around this proud state. A far cry from a few years ago when the team formerly known as the Redbacks were mistaken for the "Redlegs" (South Australian state footy club based in Norwood) by many during a pre-season fitness camp in the middle of the city.

They'd ended their 29-year drought in the Australia's premier domestic cricket competition famously last year. Twelve months on, they'd done the unthinkable and beaten the best team in the competition in their den to retain their Shield. After nearly three decades of heartache and routine ridicule, they'd gone to being temporary darlings of the state in March 2025. By around 10.25 am Adelaide time on Monday morning, Nathan McSweeney and his team had become the pride of South Australia.

It was a different kind of journey they'd taken to Shield glory this season though. South Australia had booked a home final for the 2024-25 season a couple of rounds to go at the home-and-away stage. And they'd started the final against Queensland as favourites. Unlike here, where they were taking on a Victorian team who'd dominated the competition with seven outright wins, starting with a narrow win at the Adelaide Oval back in October.

That was the first of two losses for South Australia to kick-off their defence of the Shield. A jittery start compared to last year. And even though they began consolidating from that point on, winning four and drawing four of their remaining games, they never looked set for the final till the last few weeks, when they outlasted Queensland.

They got there in the end through a different trajectory, but the same hard-nosed approach that coach Ryan Harris had ingrained in them last year. The mantra of "staying in the fight" that the former fast bowler who was renowned for never knowing when he was beaten with ball in hand, had brought with him to the head coach role.

It was on display fully as Alex Carey and Nathan McAndrew clawed their team out of a very precarious position in the second innings. And equally so as the bowlers stuck to their guns when Victoria looked in a commanding position during the run-chase with veterans Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb at the crease.

As the visitors collapsed on the third evening, there were fears that they'd lose their Shield within the first half of Day 4. Only for Carey to show why he's the most in-form batter when it comes to long-form cricket in the country, apart from being a cult hero in his own state.

He'd scored a dazzling century in South Australia's run-chase after having walked out to bat at 3/28 last year, and here he did the same though to set up a defendable total for South Australia. The score was 3/35, still trailing by 30 runs, when he walked out to bat on the third evening in Melbourne, and by the time he was done, his team had 196 to defend. McAndrew played his role too in that characteristically wholehearted fashion scoring 60 and then picking up four wickets, while young Liam Scott and Henry Thornton played their roles to perfection.

Harris and McSweeney will be back in Adelaide sometime tomorrow morning, and their achievement will be heralded like last year in public at Rundle Mall in the middle of the city. And there'll be hundreds of proud South Australians waiting for them. Waiting to celebrate the pride of South Australia.