Sheffield Shield

Sheffield Shield
Country(ies)	Australia
Administrator(s)	Cricket Australia
Cricket format	First Class (4 day) Final: 5 day
First tournament	1892
Tournament format(s)	Round Robin, final
Total participants	6
Current champion	New South Wales Blues
Most successful	New South Wales Blues (45 titles)
Official website	Cricket Australia

The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first class cricket competition in Australia.

Each of the six state teams play in a round-robin series of home and away 4-day matches against every other team. Teams are awarded points based on the results of the match, and after each pair of teams have played each other twice, the two highest ranked teams play a 5-day final.

The final is played at the home ground of the team that finished on top of the table at the end of the regular season matches. In the case of a draw the season's champion is the home team and the competition winner.

A separate limited overs competition known as the Ford Ranger Cup, and a Twenty20 competition known as the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash both run concurrently.

[edit] History

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, 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 regularly playing ad-hoc matches which were very popular.

The new tournament commenced in the summer of 1892 with the three colonies playing for a silver shield named after its benefactor.

[edit] Sponsorship and name change

In 1999, the Australian Cricket Board (now Cricket Australia) announced a 4 year sponsorship deal which included renaming the Sheffield Shield to the Pura Milk Cup, then to the Pura Cup the following season.^[1] Pura is a brand name of National Foods a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippines based San Miguel Corporation. 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.

Although the competition had previously been running with losses of several million dollars per annum, cricket traditionalists protested strongly, arguing against the encroaching wave of commercialism damaging the competition that had been running for over 100 years. The competition continued to be referred to by some fans as the "Shield" as force of habit, a subtle protest, or simply to differentiate it from the one-day domestic competition.

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 it would be renamed the "Sheffield Shield" or the "Sheffield Shield presented by Weet-Bix".^[2] Weet-bix is a cereal biscuit manufactured by Sanitarium Health Food Company.

[edit] Teams

• Wins up to and including 2007-08 season.

• Home grounds are the main venues used for home games by each team; other venues in the home state of each team are also regularly used.

[edit] Points system

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, with the top two teams playing in the final.^[3] The team with the most points hosts the final on their home ground and only needs to draw that match to win the title.

[edit] Winners 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. The visiting team must win the Final to win the championship; the home team wins the championship in the event of a tied or drawn Final.

[edit] Player of the Year

The Player of the Year award is announced at the end of each season^[4]. Since its inception in 1976 it has been awarded to the player or players who are considered to have returned consistently magnificent performances by 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 3 separate occasions.

[edit] Highlights

• 1892/93 - Competition commences by formalising the Intercolonial matches regularly played between Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales
• 1982/83 - Final introduced.

[edit] Records

[edit] Individual Records

[edit] Most matches played

[edit] Most dismissals

[edit] Team Records

[edit] Team Results

Rank	Team	Entered	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Tied	% Won
1	New South Wales	1892-93	741	317	209	214	1	60.25
2	Victoria	1892-93	733	275	215	242	1	56.11
3	Western Australia	1947-48	507	175	149	183	0	54.01
4	Queensland	1926-27	625	185	213	226	1	46.49
5	South Australia	1892-93	729	206	327	195	1	38.67
6	Tasmania	1977-78	279	58	103	118	0	36.02
Win percentage excludes drawn matches. Source: [3]. Last updated: 1 June 2007.

[edit] Highest Team Totals

Rank	Total	Team	Opponent	Venue	Season
1	1107	Victoria	New South Wales	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	1926-27
2	918	New South Wales	South Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	1900-01
3	900-6d	Queensland	Victoria	Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane	2005-06
4	821-7d	South Australia	Queensland	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	1939-40
5	815	New South Wales	Victoria	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	1908-09
Source: [4]. Last updated: 8 Jan 2008.

[edit] Lowest Team Totals

Rank	Total	Team	Opponent	Venue	Season
1	27	South Australia	New South Wales	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	1955-56
2	29	South Australia	New South Wales	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	2004-05
3	31	Victoria	New South Wales	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	1906-07
4	35	Victoria	New South Wales	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	1926-27
5	41	Western Australia	South Australia	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	1989-90
Source: [5]. Last updated: 31 May 2007.

[edit] Batting Records

[edit] Highest individual scores

[edit] Most career runs

[edit] Most runs in a season

[edit] Highest batting averages

[edit] Most centuries

[edit] Bowling Records

[edit] Most career wickets

[edit] Most wickets in a season

[edit] Best career average

[edit] See also

Cricket portal

• Intercolonial cricket in Australia
• Ford Ranger Cup
• KFC Twenty20 Big Bash
• Pura Cup season 2007-08
• Sheffield Shield season 2008-09

[edit] References

• The History of the Sheffield Shield, Chris Harte
• A Century of Summers: 100 years of Sheffield Shield cricket, Geoff Armstrong

[edit] External links

• http://members.optusnet.com.au/~anmarks/history.htm
• Points system