Victoria and South Australia will look to make the most of second lives when the Sheffield Shield final begins on Saturday.
Both teams' seasons looked over at separate points in the past month, but now have the chance to win the covered title at Glenelg's Gliderol Stadium.
South Australia in particular have walked a tightrope to the final, winning their last two games and relying on results in other games to fall their way.
However, it could have been a different story if an injured Nick Benton hadn't edged them to a one-wicket victory over WA at the WACA earlier this month.
Nursing a dislocated shoulder, the No.11 held the bat in only his un-preferred left hand to score the match-winning runs in the must-win game.
"That was a big turning point for us," Redbacks veteran Mark Cosgrove said.
"He could easily have said `no, I'm too sore,' or batted with two hands."
Full of painkillers, Benton flicked a single off his pads, then edged a boundary through slips to win the match.
"I had a lot of strapping on it," he told AAP.
"I went in trying to use two hands, but I realised after the first ball I couldn't."
"I'm not a very good bat, I'm happy to admit that ... It was more just a case of see ball, hit ball."
Meanwhile, the Bushrangers could easily have missed the final despite almost being assured of a position with three games to play.
They lost rounds eight and nine, before an unbeaten final-day 332-ball 97 from Cameron White against NSW saved both last week's match and booked a spot in the decider.
"There were definitely times where I didn't think we were going to be here," Bushrangers captain Matt Wade said.
"In the 10 years that I've played with Cameron I've never seen him play an innings like that.
"But that's the thing, last week we didn't know if we were going to be here. Now we've just got to go out there and play the way we play."
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