While many of his teammates chase a third Shield title, Josh Inglis is on the hunt for his first
Inglis eager to add to WA's 'bittersweet' Shield wins
Josh Inglis is hoping it's a case of 'third time lucky' as the wicketkeeper-batter prepares to play in his first Marsh Sheffield Shield final.
For Inglis, Western Australia's back-to-back Shield triumphs over the past two summers have been "bittersweet" for the 29-year-old, having played his part in both campaigns, but also missing both finals.
Inglis spent WA's drought-breaking Shield final win in 2022 glued to his laptop screen while locked in a Pakistan hotel room, isolated from his Australia teammates with Covid.
In 2023, he was in India with the one-day squad, arriving home on the second day of the final against Victoria.
This year Inglis is set to be key for a WA side hit by injury and freak accident, looming as a lynchpin of the batting as well as his increasingly impressive glovework.
"The boys made the last two and won the last two and it was bittersweet personally," Inglis reflected this week.
"Obviously I played a part in both years but not having played in the final...
"In 2022 in Pakistan I had Covid – I didn't miss a ball of that final, (I) watched all four days – and then last year just returned from India so just unfortunately missed the first day.
"So, yeah, (this means) a helluva lot. I'm really looking forward to the next week."
Inglis is one of five players in WA's squad yet to play in a Shield final, and says that is a big driving factor for the squad.
"But you also don't want to look too much into that and make it a bigger game than it is," Inglis cautioned.
"It's still a game of cricket at the end of the day.
"But yeah, personally for me it's something I've wanted to do over the last few years and having never played a Shield final, I'm really excited about the week to come."
Since returning from national duty with Australia's T20 squad on the tour of New Zealand, Inglis has been productive with the bat in the Shield, including an unbeaten 136 against Queensland at the WACA in round nine.
"Something I'm starting to get a bit more used to now is transitioning between white and red ball and the different formats," said Inglis, who has now played more than 20 games for Australia in each of the white-ball formats.
"It can be quite hard at times but having done it more often now I feel a lot more comfortable with where my game is at.
"So, yep, feeling good and hopefully I can make some more runs this week."
While Inglis will keep wickets for WA, the man keeping him out of Australia's T20 side, Matthew Wade will not don the gloves for Tasmania, with Jake Doran taking that duty instead.
Playing his last first-class game, Inglis knows what WA can expect from the Tasmanian native Wade.
"He's so tough to play against, he's an in-your-face character, gritty, he's hard to get out. But he scores a lot of runs.
"He's someone I've become a bit closer to over the last few years obviously being around the Aussie setups and he's just a great competitor and a great person to be around."
The Marsh Sheffield Shield final will be broadcast live on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports, as well as live streamed free on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.
Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings
| Team | M | W | L | D | N/R | Ded. | Bat | Bowl | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
WA
|
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5.53 | 9.4 | 47.93 |
|
2
TAS
|
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.06 | 8.3 | 47.36 |
|
3
NSW
|
10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.31 | 9 | 42.31 |
|
4
VIC
|
10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.74 | 8.2 | 38.94 |
|
5
SA
|
10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.19 | 9.3 | 33.49 |
|
6
QLD
|
10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.54 | 8.3 | 25.84 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points