“He hasn’t come up – we tried as best we can,” SA coach Ryan Harris told reporters on Monday. “He was going pretty well and he had a bit of a step back last week. Going into a final, you sometimes risk it, but this is probably too much, too fast.”

Doggett hasn’t played since suffering his injury in February. “He has got potentially a big August coming up with the Australian stuff as well, so we want to make sure we’re not going to run him into the ground,” Harris said.

“He doesn’t have to have surgery this time … we’re obviously going to miss him going in after what he did last year.”

South Australia’s win over Queensland in last year’s final ended their Shield drought dating back to 1996. And the state is now gunning for consecutive titles for the first time.

“I think we’ve got a really strong culture here in South Australian cricket for continued success.”

With Doggett out, South Australia are adding quick Wes Agar and batter Jake Fraser-McGurk for their trip to Victoria, the latter having withdrawn from the PSL.

“We understand they’re a really good team and they’ve earned the right to host the final,” Carey said. “I do think we’re playing our best cricket at the right time of the year.  We’re looking at getting over to Victoria, playing our brand of  cricket … we’re excited.”