Cricket: Sheffield Shield Cricket in Australia
The Sheffield Shield is the first class domestic competition in Australia. It was established by the Australian Cricket Council in 1892. Since the beginning of the competition there hasn’t been a significant change in the format, currently it is held annually with each of the six teams playing on a double round basis, home and away.
There are four day matches against each team and two top teams, with the highest points go ahead to play in the five day final. The final of the Sheffield Shield is traditionally played on the top teams’ home ground, i.e. the team with the highest points. The final match may not determine the winner at all, since in the possibility of a draw, the team with the most points claims the trophy.
The Sheffield Shield was born because of the donation of £150 made by Lord Sheffield to the New South Wales Cricket Association; he wanted an annual competition for the colonies of Australia. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-South-Wales-c823, Victoria and South Australia had already previously been playing each other, the new and formal format only organized the competition and set the rule for home and away fixtures.
The New South Blue Wales, who debuted in the 1892-1893 season, have won the competition a staggering 45 times. Victorian Bushrangers and Southern Redbacks, who also started off in the 1892-1893 season have had 28 and 13 wins respectively. Western Warriors have 13 wins, Queensland Bulls 6 and the Tasmanian Tigers have only gone on to win it once, in 2006-2007. The Tigers qualified for the final on three previous occasions, 1993-1994, 1997-1998 and 2001-2002, but did not win.
Following the format, each side plays the others twice every season, home and away. But there have been exceptions to the rule; South Australia and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Western-Australia-c865 only played each team once. The Tasmanian Tigers were also playing once against each team until 1977-1978. In the case of unequal number of games, points are calculated on the basis of pro rata.
According to the original point system, ignoring previous matches and results, the winner of the last game of the season won the Shield. The quotient was introduced since the beginning of the Shield in 1892-1893 and 1932-1971 saw the quick introduction and removal of first inning points. When the bonus points for batting and bowling were used in the first innings, only a maximum of 10 batting points could be made and only 5 bowling points were available.
The Player of the Year award was first given out in 1976; it is decided by a panel of judges, with the result being given out at the end of a season. Matthew Elliot holds the record for having won the Player of the Year award the most number of times on three separate occasions. He is a Victorian and South Australian batsman. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/J-Cox-c64760 holds the record for most matches played, with about 161 matches within a span of 1987 to 2005. And the player with most matches as captain is Le Favell of South Australia with 80 matches.
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