Australian cricket great Peter Siddle’s selfless final act in Sheffield Shield farewell

Australian great Peter Siddle has given up the match ball in his final act as a first-class cricketer, gifting it to a young fan who made his way over to say congratulations.

The 40-year-old former Test star signed off from the Sheffield Shield with the last wicket in Victoria’s win over Western Australia in Perth.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Aussie cricket great’s selfless final act in farewell match.

The Vics weren’t in the mix to reach the final but knocked WA out of the race in a memorable finish on Tuesday night.

WA were just 35 runs away from earning the chance to play for a fourth consecutive Shield title when Siddle claimed the last wicket of the match.

No.10 batsman Corey Rocchiccioli contributed 20 runs to WA’s cause before he was caught behind off Siddle in the third-last over of the day.

Siddle celebrated with both fists in the air before sharing a warm embrace with captain Will Sutherland and veteran teammate Peter Handscomb in particular.

The Victorian, who spent three years with Tasmania before returning to his home state for his last two seasons, then received a guard of honour after the match.

A young fan wearing a Perth Scorchers jersey made his way over to the gate to shake Siddle’s hand but left with a lifelong memory, with the bowler offering up the match ball from his 792nd and last first-class wicket.

There is little doubt Siddle would continue to add that haul next summer after claiming match figures of 7-78 against WA.

But he will instead pack away the whites and focus on returning for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League next summer.

WA’s hopes of defeating Victoria were foiled by Siddle with the second ball of their second innings, with captain Sam Whiteman dismissed without scoring.

Hilton Cartwright (79) led a fightback in the middle order that had the hosts daring to dream at 4-233.

Victoria captain Will Sutherland (4-79) rattled Cartwright’s off-stump short of an 11th first-class century, leaving the hosts to regroup.

Cooper Connolly burst onto the first-class scene in last year’s tournament final and emerged as Western Australia’s last recognised batter to seal another berth.

Connolly (56) reached his half-century with a six over long on from spinner Todd Murphy, the man he replaced in the XI on Test debut against Sri Lanka last month.

But when he hit Siddle straight to Harry Dixon at cover, Western Australia were into the bowlers and still required 99 runs.

Campbell Kellaway leapt in the air for a spectacular one-handed catch in the deep that halted Cameron Gannon’s fightback on 19 from Will Sutherland’s bowling.

Joel Paris (45) resumed the push but WA were limping to the finish, with the hosts coming up agonisingly short when Siddle struck for a fourth time.

Meanwhile, Queensland will face South Australia in the Sheffield Shield final at Karen Rolton Oval next week after the two teams played out a draw at the same ground.

South Australia captain Nathan McSweeney and stand-in Queensland skipper Marnus Labuschagne shook hands on the afternoon of day four when it became clear neither side could realistically win the match.

Having reached 7-614 declared in their first innings, South Australia finished at 5-252 in their second dig after bowling Queensland out for 370, but ran out of time to enter their home final in winning form.

The result left the Queenslanders glued to the television screen on Tuesday evening, hoping neither WA nor NSW win their respective matches and leapfrog them into next week’s decider.

“All in all, I’m really proud of the boys’ effort,” Labuschagne said.

“To be in the position we’re in now, after five games with no wins and being able to pull in three wins in the last five games and then a draw, that’s a really good effort.”

- with AAP