The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Lord Sheffield.
Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during the 1892–93 season, between New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Queensland was admitted for the 1926–27 season, Western Australia for the 1947–48 season, and Tasmania for the 1977–78 season.
The competition is contested in a double-round-robin format, with each team playing every other team twice, i.e. home and away. Points are awarded based on wins, draws, ties and bonus points for runs and wickets in a team's first 100 batting and bowling overs, with the top two teams playing a final at the end of the season. Regular matches last for four days; the final lasts for five days.
The Sheffield Shield is supported by a Second XI reserves competition.
In 1891–92 the Earl of Sheffield was in Australia as the promoter of the English team led by W. G. Grace. The tour included three Tests played in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
At the conclusion of the tour, Lord Sheffield donated £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association to fund a trophy for an annual tournament of intercolonial cricket in Australia. The three colonies of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia were already playing each other in ad hoc matches. The new tournament commenced in the summer of 1892–93, mandating home and away fixtures between each colony each season. The three teams competed for the Sheffield Shield, named after its benefactor. A Polish immigrant, Phillip Blashki,[1] won the competition to design the trophy, a 43 in × 30 in (109 cm × 76 cm) silver shield.
The competition therefore commenced some 15 years after Australia's first Test match.
In 1999, the Australian Cricket Board (now Cricket Australia) announced a sponsorship deal which included renaming the Sheffield Shield to the Pura Milk Cup, then to the Pura Cup the following season.[2] Pura is a brand name of National Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bega Cheese. The sponsorship increased total annual prize money to A$220,000, with the winners receiving A$75,000 and the runners up A$45,000.
On 16 July 2008 it was announced that Weet-Bix would take over sponsorship of the competition from the start of the 2008–09 season, and that the name would revert to the "Sheffield Shield" or the "Sheffield Shield presented by Weet-Bix".[3] Weet-bix is a cereal biscuit manufactured by Sanitarium Health Food Company.
In the 2019–20 season, Marsh took over the sponsorship for the competition. This followed Marsh & McLennan Companies' acquisition of JLT, which had sponsored the competition since 2017.
Since 1977–78, all six states of Australia have fielded their own teams. Details of each team are set out below.
Before 1993, all states were known solely by their state names or cricket association titles. Queensland was the first to adopt a nickname when it became known as the ‘Bulls’ from 1993; and following the success of that, other states adopted nicknames from 1995. The nicknames have since mostly fallen out of official use.
Below are the venues that will host Sheffield Shield matches during the 2022–23 season.
Each side has played each other both home and away every season with the following exceptions:
Where the teams played an unequal number of games, their final points were calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Matches were timeless (i.e. played to an outright result, weather and schedule permitting) up to 1926–27. A four-day time limit has applied since 1927–28.[7]
In 1940–41, however, the Sheffield Shield was not contested but ten first-class “friendly” matches were played between the States for patriotic funds;[8] however financially these were unsuccessful.[9]
The Sheffield Shield was not contested during the 1941–42 Australian first-class season - instead an “Interstate Patriotic Competition” was held, with all proceeds going to the war effort. Only one match was played (Queensland v NSW at the Gabba) before the competition was cancelled due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.[10]
Since 1982–83, the top two teams after the home and away rounds have met in a final, played over five days at the home ground of the top-ranked team. Between 1982–83 and 2017–18, in the event of a draw or tie, the Shield was awarded to the top-ranked team.[7] Since the 2018–19 summer, in the event of a draw or tie, the team which scores more first innings bonus points, based on the system used in regular season matches, wins the Shield.[11] No final was played in 2019–20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]
A number of different systems have been used over the years. Currently, points are awarded for each match during the home and away season according to the following table.
Prior to the introduction of a Final in 1982–83, the team with most points after the home and away rounds was declared the winner. With the introduction of the Final, the top team hosts the second placed team in a five-day match. Until 2018–19, the visiting team was required to win the Final to win the championship; the home team won the championship in the event of a tied or drawn Final. Since the 2018–19 summer, in the event of a draw or tie, the team which scores more first innings bonus points, based on the system used in regular season matches, wins the Shield. Further details including match scorecards are available at Cricinfo[18] and the Cricket Archive.[19]
The Player of the Year award is announced at the end of each season.[20] Since its inception in 1976 it has been awarded to the best-performed player/s over the season, as determined a panel of judges. Victorian and South Australian batsman Matthew Elliott has won the award the most times, being awarded Player of the Year on three separate occasions.
Six other players have represented three Australian states in top-level cricket, but without playing Sheffield Shield games for all three – Neil Hawke (SA, Tas, WA); Walter McDonald (Qld, Tas, Vic); Percy McDonnell (NSW, Qld, Vic); Karl Quist (NSW, SA, WA); Greg Rowell (NSW, Qld, Tas); Wal Walmsley (NSW, Qld, Tas), Dan Christian (NSW, SA, Vic).
Many bowlers have taken a hat-trick in the Sheffield Shield. Mitchell Starc is the only bowler to take two hat-tricks in a Sheffield Shield match. In round two of the 2017–18 competition, Starc became the only bowler to take a hat-trick in each innings of a first-class cricket match in Australia, doing so against Western Australia at Hurstville Oval.[21][22]
