Sheffield Shield

Infobox cricket tournament main
tournament name = Sheffield Shield


size = 173px
caption =
country = Flagicon|Australia Australia
administrator = Cricket Australia
cricket format = First Class (4 day)
Final: 5 day
first = 1892
last =
tournament format = Round Robin, final
participants = 6
champions = New South Wales Blues
qualification=
most successful = New South Wales Blues
(45 titles)
most runs =
most wickets =
website= [http://www.cricket.com.au 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.

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.

ponsorship 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. [cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/1999/NOV/009267_CI_17NOV1999.html Cricinfo article|title=Aussie state champions to drink from the Milk Cup|work=Cricinfo|date=November 17, 1999|author=Rick Eyre|accessdate=2008-07-16] "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". [cite web|url=http://cricket.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=41629|title=Cricket Australia and Weet-Bix bring Sheffield Shield back|work=Cricket Australia|date=16 July, 2008|accessdate=2008-07-17] Weet-bix is a cereal biscuit manufactured by Sanitarium Health Food Company.

Teams

Player of the Year

The Player of the Year award is announced at the end of each season [cite web|url=http://www1.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/AUS/DOMESTIC/SS/SS_PLAYERS_OF_THE_YEAR.html|publisher=Cricinfo.com|title=Pura Cup Player of the Year] . 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.

Team Records

Team Results

Batting Records

Highest individual scores

Highest batting averages

Most wickets in a season

Best career average

ee also

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

References

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

External links

*http://members.optusnet.com.au/~anmarks/history.htm
* [http://www.cricketsa.com.au/library/Junior%20Reds%20Newsletter%20Jan%2004.pdf Points system]