New injury sub confirmed for start of Shield season

Injury substitutes will be trialled in the Sheffield Shield this season as Cricket Australia seeks to develop a proposal that could be implemented at Test level.

CA today altered the playing conditions for the first five rounds of the 2025-26 Sheffield Shield season to allow teams to replace a player injured up until stumps on day two of the match.

To provide fairness for the opposing team, they would then be permitted to make a tactical substitution in response, also by stumps on day two.

There are no restrictions on the type of ailment permitting a player to be subbed out of a match, with illness also included, and the injury may be sustained any time after the toss, either pre- or post-play (during warm-ups or away from the venue overnight), through to stumps on the second day.

Teams will only be able to make one injury substitute per match and their replacement must be like-for-like – that is, a fast bowler for a fast bowler, spinner for a spinner, batter for a batter and so on.

The opposition's tactical sub must also be like-for-like to the injured player.

The match referee will determine the legitimacy of the injury substitution request and may place restrictions on both replacement players' involvement, such as instructing a batter they cannot bowl if they are replacing a batter who does not regularly bowl.

The injured or ill player will be required to serve a mandatory 12-day standdown period from national or domestic competitions, starting from the day after the scheduled second day of the match.

For example, any player subbed out of round one of the Shield season would remain unavailable until October 18, meaning they would miss One-Day Cup matches on October 9 and round two of the Shield (October 15-18).

The Shield's new playing condition differs from the "serious injury replacement substitute" introduced by the BCCI in August for Indian domestic matches played over multiple days.

Under the BCCI's rule, the injury must have occurred during the game and is only applicable for external injuries (like a deep cut or fracture) rather than internal (such as a calf strain).

Potential injury replacement substitutes also need to be nominated at the toss in Indian domestic competitions, except in the case of a wicketkeeper being replaced, with the match referee able consider a player from outside the nominated substitutes if no reserve 'keeper was named.

The debate around injury replacements in Test cricket reared its head during India's tour of England earlier this year when Rishabh Pant batted with a fractured foot in the fourth Test while Chris Woakes came out at No.11 with one arm in a sling under his jumper in the fifth Test after dislocating his shoulder diving in the field on day one.

The injury to Woakes, who has since retired from international cricket, left England a bowler down for the remaining four days of the match.

Closer to home, Ashton Agar faced five balls using just his top (right) hand and didn't bowl in the second innings during a Shield match against Victoria last season after straining his left bowling shoulder diving to attempt a catch on day one.

As well as developing a rule that could be used in Shield going forward and passed onto the ICC for consideration in Test cricket, CA said an objective of the trial was to prevent other bowlers from shouldering too much the workload for the rest of the match should their team suffer an injury.

"We hope to learn much about the trial across the first five rounds that we can use in both our competition going forward and also pass up to the ICC for consideration for introduction at Test level," said Peter Roach, CA's cricket operations boss.

India coach Gautam Gambhir was "all for" introducing injury replacements in the aftermath of the fourth Test in Manchester in July, but England captain Ben Stokes feared there would be "too many loopholes" for teams to exploit.

Stokes, as well as injured fast bowler Woakes, reiterated the same stance following the fifth Test at The Oval, which England lost by six runs after Woakes batted for 16 minutes without facing a ball as Gus Atkinson tried in vain to edge the hosts over the line.

The ICC has confirmed that Sheffield Shield matches will retain their first-class status during CA's injury substitute trial during the first five rounds of the season.

Following an evaluation of the trial and feedback from the states and match officials, CA will make a call on whether it continues for the rest of the season, is altered from round seven or is cancelled altogether.

The injury substitute is separate to the concussion substitute rule that remains unchanged, which are unlimited and can be made across any day of the match, pending approval from the match referee.

Travelling squad sizes will remain the same as previous seasons, with 12 players permitted for away matches on the east coast and South Australia, and 13 to and from WA, with the 12th recommended to be a fast bowler given they are the most common mid-match injuries. Teams can name a squad of 13 prior to day one to assess conditions but are expected to release the extra player following the toss.

During the development of the new rule, CA analysed all 31 Shield games last season and determined there were eight game-ending injuries. Six of those were suffered by bowlers, and six occurred during the first two days of the match.

There is also an 'exceptional circumstances' clause allowing a player to be subbed out of a match up until stumps on day two for unforeseen personal or family reasons that occur during the match. In this instance, the player's state could make an application for them to return before the end of the mandatory 12-day standdown period.

Replacement players will inherit all sanctions imposed on the played subbed out in the match, such as running on the pitch or waist-high full toss warnings.