Sheffield Shield is the premier first-class cricket competition of Australia. A country that has dominated the sport in the last four decades, Australia’s start in professional cricket was rather slow. Henry Holroyd, the third earl of Sheffield realised the declining standard of cricket in Australia. Thus, after 15 years, during the 1891-92 tour of England to Australia, he decided to give £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association.
A Philip Blashki from Melbourne won the competition organized by the cricket association to design a trophy. The outcome was a silver plate (91 cm x 58 cm) which is now known as the Sheffield Shield. A three-team competition between Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia was thus held in 1892-93 as the first ever Shield Competition.
The seed sown by Lord Sheffield soon grew as all six states of Australia. By 1978, each state had its own first-class team that competed for the title. Since 1927, all matches are played in a four-day format with the exception of the final that is played for five days. All six teams play each other in a double round-robin format. Each team plays the other twice, once in a home fixture and the other as an away encounter.
A match win in the Sheffield Shield is worth 6 points, 3 points are awarded for a tie, and 1 point to each team for a draw. No points are deducted for a loss. Teams get bonus points based on their batting or bowling performance in the first 100 overs of the first innings. The batting side earns .01 points for every run scored above 200 in the first 100 overs of the first innings. In the same span of overs, the bowling side gets 0.1 points for every wicket taken.
If two teams are tied at the same number of points. the quotient of the team is calculated. The quotient is calculated by dividing the team’s batting average by its bowling average. The top two teams at the end of the league stage contest the final. This final is played at the table topper’s home ground.
Since 1976, a Player of the Year award is given to the best performer of the season. Matthew Elliott holds the record for winning three player of the year awards. Tasmania’s Jamie Cox has played a record 161 matches. Darren Lehmann holds the record for scoring a record 13,635 runs while representing South Australia and Victoria. Clarrie Grimmett who also represented the same two teams has taken a record 513 wickets in the Sheffield Shield. As of 2025, New South Wales has won the maximum Sheffield Shield titles, winning 47 of the 123 editions of the tournament.
