Picture Credit: Cricket Australia
With the cricketing season around the corner in Australia, all eyes are on the Sheffield Shield cricket tournament. The competition is the domestic first-class cricket tournament of the nation and is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. The format of the first-class tournament is double-round robin which implies that each team will play every other team twice, i.e. home and away.
Points are awarded to teams based on wins, losses, draws or ties, which helps them to rank at the points table. The top two teams at the end secure a berth each in the final. While the round-robin matches are of four days duration, the final is played over five days.
Last year it was Queensland who emerged as the winners in the final against New South Wales.
Schedule:
This year Cricket Australia has been forced to reschedule the start of the season. As a result, Sheffield Shield season will begin on September 24 instead of September 28. The competition will most likely be played till November before resuming in February next year. The final is expected in late March.
Western Australia and South Australia will face off in the season opener on September 24, before defending champions Queensland play Tasmania in the Marsh Sheffield Shield on September 28.
The final schedule will be updated here upon receiving confirmation.
Squads
New South Wales
Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Patrick Cummins*, Oliver Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hackney, Josh Hazlewood*, Liam Hatcher, Lachlan Hearne, Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon*, Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith*, Mitchell Starc*, Chris Tremain, David Warner*, Adam Zampa*. Rookies: Josh Baraba, Ryan Hadley, Jack Nisbett, Hunar Verma
Queensland
Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Joe Burns, Max Bryant, Blake Edwards, Sam Heazlett, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne*, Michael Neser, Lachlan Pfeffer, Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Jack Wood. Rookies: Jack Clayton, Will Prestwidge, Connor Sully, Matthew Willans
South Australia
Wes Agar, Alex Carey*, Jake Carder, Brendan Doggett, Daniel Drew, Ryan Gibson, David Grant, Travis Head, Henry Hunt, Sam Kerber, Jake Lehmann, Nathan McAndrew, Nathan McSweeney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Tim Oakley, Lloyd Pope, Kane Richardson*, Liam Scott, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Daniel Worrall. Rookies: Jordan Buckingham, Bailey Capel, Kyle Brazell, Corey Kelly, Thomas Kelly
Tasmania
Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tim Paine*, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Mac Wright, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster. Rookies: Jarrod Freeman, Brad Hope, Mitch Owen, Nivethan Radhakrishnan
Victoria
Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Travis Dean, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch*, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Seb Gotch, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell*, Jonathan Merlo, Tom O'Connell, Wil Parker, James Pattinson*, Mitchell Perry, Will Pucovski, James Seymour, Matt Short, Will Sutherland. Rookies: Brody Couch, Sam Elliott, Tom Jackson, Cameron McClure, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill.
Western Australia
Ashton Agar*, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green*, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Bryce Jackson, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson*, Corey Rocchiccioli, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman. Rookies: Cooper Connolly, Sam Fanning, Jayden Goodwin, Bryce Jackson
*Cricket Australia contracted players