South Australia 373 (Sangha 115, Scott 61, Carey 58, Hatcher 4-116) and 96 for 1 (Head 58) beat New South Wales 269 (J Davies 47, Thornton 5-71) and 198 (Shaw 64, McAndrew 6-55) by nine wickets
McAndrew claimed 6 for 55 as SA bowled out the visitors for 198 at Karen Rolton Oval before Test star Head helped make light work of the 95-run fourth-innings chase.
Head blasted 58 from 48 balls, including five boundaries and three sixes, to put SA within touching distance of victory.
The result puts SA second on the Shield table with one round to play, while NSW are now out of contention. Tasmania, who suffered a 70-run defeat to leaders Victoria, are also now unable to overtake SA.
Ryan Harris’ side had a 104-run lead over NSW on the first innings and were in a commanding position when McAndrew and Jordan Buckingham ripped through NSW’s top order on day three.
McAndrew was superb as he cut through the middle order, having the in-form Kurtis Patterson taken at second slip and Josh Philippe brilliantly held in the gully by Liam Scott.
The NSW tail wagged as Charlie Stobo played a part in putting on 62 runs for the final two wickets. But it was never going to be enough, and Head quickly put any thoughts of a NSW fightback to bed.
After ending a 29-year Shield drought last summer, SA take on Victoria in the final round as they seek to book their spot in a second successive final.
SA are eyeing consecutive titles for the first time in the competition’s 133-year history.
