Cameron White has anointed Peter Handscomb as Victoria's next captain with the veteran batsman happy for the Bushrangers' historic third straight Sheffield Shield triumph to be his swansong as skipper.

White - who led Victoria to back-to-back titles in 2008-09 and 2009-10 - captained Victoria this week's final in the absence of Matthew Wade who has been in India on international duty. But with Wade set to return home to Tasmania next season, the Bushrangers will be looking for a new full-time skipper.

White said that it was Handscomb - who has also been in India with the Australian Test team - who should get the nod.

"I think that's my time done with the captaincy. I can't do it forever," White said.

"I think it's time for someone else to do it. I just want to get back to enjoying playing. There's a lot of guys who can do the captaincy. Obviously Peter Handscomb's probably the No. 1."

Victoria were denied a win by South Australia in the final hour on Thursday at Traeger Park but that barely mattered as the Bushrangers claimed the silverware again. Despite having three coaches in as many seasons, and having again been forced to play the final outside Victoria, the Bushrangers were rarely in danger of relinquishing the Shield after setting up the match with a strong batting display on day one.

South Australia briefly threatened a comeback but by Thursday there was little doubt Victoria would be crowned champions again, completing a hat-trick of Shield triumphs for the first time in the state's 125-year history in the competition.

With the Redbacks set a nominal target of 524 from a minimum of 69 overs to win their first Shield title in 21 years, the question was not whether Victoria would get the trophy, but whether it would be following a win, or a draw. It perhaps typified Victoria's ruthless streak that rather than settle for a draw, they pushed until 25 minutes before the scheduled stumps when the captains finally agreed to call it a day.

Two wickets from Fawad Ahmed shortly before tea kept the Bushrangers in the hunt, and they headed into the final session needing six wickets to claim victory. Ahmed got his third scalp after the interval as Tom Cooper edged one to White at slip on 10, but a stubborn 86-run stand from South Australian captain Travis Head and wicketkeeper Alex Carey provided a roadblock. Carey fell for 45 but the match ended with South Australia at 6-236, with Head not out 137.

Spinner Jon Holland capped off an outstanding season by being named player of the final for his 7-82 in the first innings.

No stranger to playing in title-winning teams, White said it was especially significant to have won three Shields in a row. "Of course it is. We knew that we were getting pretty close there after Christmas, we turned on top of the table. We knew if we were able to play well enough and give ourselves a chance to host the final we'd be a really good chance of three in a row," he said.

"The team should be proud."

White had resisted any urge to declare on Thursday morning. The Bushrangers began the day 454 runs ahead with four wickets in hand, and they were happy to use them. Daniel Christian's at-times painstaking knock ended early in the first session as he was caught in the deep by Jake Lehmann off Joe Mennie for 58 from 192 balls. Seb Gotch - with whom Christian had batted through Wednesday's final session - fell lbw to Head for 48 from 161 balls.

Holland (17) and Ahmed (eight) went down swinging to Head and Adam Zampa respectively as the Bushrangers were finally bowled out for 323 after batting for more than an hour on the final day. James Pattinson remained 17 not out, before later taking two wickets to put early pressure on the Redbacks in their second innings.