Sheffield Shield 2026-27: All you need to know

When does it start?

The footy finals have been run and done, and that means cricket season is in full swing across Australia. The domestic season will go up a gear this week as the 125th edition of the Sheffield Shield gets underway on Wednesday, October 7.

It will be a staggered start to round one in 2026-27 with Victoria hosting defending champions South Australia at Junction Oval in a rematch of last season's final before NSW and Tasmania kick off their campaigns at Sydney's Cricket Central the following day and Queensland travel across the country to face Western Australia at the WACA Ground.

Each state will play six Shield games before the KFC BBL|16 break and four after, with the top two teams to qualify for the five-day final from March 25-29 next year.

What's the schedule?

The Sheffield Shield consists of a full 10-match home-and-away season with the two top-ranked teams qualifying for the final beginning on March 25 next year, which will be hosted by the team that finishes on top of the table after the regular season.

Shield matches will be played at all of Australia's major Test venues this season with Perth Stadium set to host its first red-ball domestic match since 2018 in round five when WA play Tasmania.

Two-time reigning champions SA are currently scheduled to play all five of their home games at Adelaide Oval this season for the first time since 2012-13, while Victoria will host three matches at the MCG this season – the most it has since 2019-20 – including a day-night pink-ball clash with the Tigers in round seven to aid the venue's pitch preparations ahead of the 150th Anniversary Test next March.

In fact, the competition's entire round seven, which follows the Big Bash break, will be day-night matches at major venues, with Queensland also taking on Western Australia at the Gabba and South Australia hosting NSW at Adelaide Oval.

The first six Shield rounds will be played prior to Australia's four-Test series against New Zealand beginning on December 9, providing Test hopefuls ample opportunity to push their case for selection.

You can find the full schedule along with broadcast details for each match here.

How can I watch?

Every game will be streamed live and available worldwide (excluding India and New Zealand) on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app, and also available in Australia on Kayo Sports. Cricket fans in India can watch the One-Day Cup on Fancode, with matches available on Sky NZ in New Zealand.

Fans can also watch more Sheffield Shield cricket on Foxtel this season, with one match each from rounds two to seven, as well as the final, broadcast live on Fox Cricket.

Fox Cricket broadcast matches

 

Round 2 (October 19-22): South Australia v Queensland, Adelaide Oval, 10:30am ACDT

 

Round 3 (October 31-November 3): Queensland v Victoria, Gabba, 10am AEST

 

Round 4 (November 11-14): Victoria v Western Australia, MCG, 10:30am AEDT

 

Round 5 (November 22-25): NSW v Queensland, 10:30am AEDT

 

Round 6 (December 3-6): NSW v Western Australia, SCG, 10:30am AEDT

 

Round 7 (February 8-11): Victoria v Tasmania, MCG, 2:30pm AEDT (D/N)

 

Final: March 25-29

Can I attend?

Absolutely! Entry is free for all matches in NSW, with no ticket required. At Cricket Central, patrons can enter via the main entrance off the car park, with seating available in the pavilion and grandstands, or you're welcome to bring a folding chair or picnic rug. At the SCG, entry is via Gate A, with seating limited to the Members and Ladies stands.

Queensland and Tasmania home games are also free to attend, and South Australia's matches at both Adelaide and Karen Rolton ovals.

Western Australia home games at the WACA Ground are ticketed at $17 for adults, $11 for concession and $6 for juniors. For their clash with Tasmania at Perth Stadium, entry starts at $20 for adults, $13 for concession holders, $7 for juniors and $47 for families.

In Victoria, tickets for matches at Junction Oval can be purchased at Gate 2 on Lakeside Drive and for matches at the MCG get them at Gate 2 on match day. A ticket will set you back $10 for an adult, $7 for concession, $5 for under-18s and $20 for a family. MCC, Renegades, and Stars members can enjoy free entry at both venues by presenting their membership card.

Any new rules?

There sure are, and this one is very niche!

Cricket Australia have tweaked the Sheffield Shield session timings this season with the aim of restoring the balance between bat and ball and encouraging fielding captains to bowl more spin overs.

With a goal of reducing the length of the last session – which usually stretched to 2.5hrs to get the overs in – the governing body has moved time to the middle session. Under revised playing conditions for the 2026-27 Shield season, the second and third sessions will effectively now be equal length at 2hrs and 15mins.

To achieve this, the middle session has been extended by 15 minutes, with that time taken from the third session. With the half-hour extension for the daily minimum overs, which remains set at 96, the third session's playing time will match that of the middle.

Sheffield Shield session times 2026-27

 

Morning: 2 hours

Lunch: 40 minutes

Afternoon: 2 hours 15 minutes

Tea: 20 minutes

Evening: 1 hour 45 minutes

* An extra 30 minutes is available to complete daily overs

Read more on the reasoning below, as well as CA urging curators to err on the side of batters this summer below:

Injury substitute trial extended

CA's injury substitution trial – which allows teams to replace an injured or ill player up until stumps on day two, and day three of the final – will continue for this summer barring any change of stance from the International Cricket Council.

"We think the substitution trial we had last season worked exceedingly well and we're really happy with it," said Peter Roach, CA's operations and scheduling boss.

"We heard really great feedback from our teams that there were times when they tried to take advantage of it and couldn't find a way to, which is exactly what we want. We want that team that has the injury to be not massively disadvantaged by the injury, hence the ability to replace. But we don't want them to get an advantage over the other team either."

From the coaches:

Cricket.com.au chatted to each of the six head coaches to get the latest intel from the preseason and their hopes for the summer ahead. The link below each coach takes you to the comprehensive state preview for that side.

Ryan Harris (South Australia): "We want to win three (Sheffield Shield titles) in a row. We want to win the one-day trophy. But by doing that, you've got to stay in the present. Make sure you play every ball, bowl every ball. In that moment be the best you can be."

Chris Rogers (Victoria): "We feel we've got a pretty good squad with lots of talent, as shown by not being far off winning a Shield last season. We feel there's a lot more growth within the squad and we'll keep looking to give them opportunities, and hopefully we can get a number of these players to further their own careers as well … and take that next step."

James Hopes (Queensland): "I've reminded the senior group of players that they've won multiple Shield titles. I think they sometimes lose sight of that fact. I've said to them: 'You guys aren't in a rebuilding phase here – you've got a real good young group with you now so you're actually in a really exciting phase, and this can be accelerated by what you do'."

Jeff Vaughan (Tasmania): "We've just got to keep putting ourselves in a position where we are challenging for finals. With the guys who are going to be away with Australia (Nathan Ellis, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Kuhnemann, Beau Webster) and Australia A (Nikhil Chaudhary, Mitch Owen), it's going to be an exciting time for some others who are going to get opportunities. We've still got experienced players in the captain Jordan Silk, Tim Ward, Jake Doran, Gabe Bell who was our standout bowler last season, and Ben McDermott coming back into the group … so while we love sending players off to play for Australia, we feel as though we've got reasonable depth as well."

Brad Haddin (NSW): "What's impressed me most is the upside in the group; looking at the group from different angles and watching from afar, I actually don't think this group fully understands how good a cricket team they could be. It's really important to everyone (at NSW) that we start to get our four-day cricket right and we start to find ways to win. We haven't won a game on our home track at Cricket Central (five draws, one loss), so we've got to find ways to make our home track a place that we dominate."

Beau Casson (Western Australia): "New head coach, new red ball captain … It's our chance to write the pages of this chapter within WA cricket. We've got some young players coming through that we're excited about to go with a mixture of experience. We know if we can tap into both of those age profiles within our squad, we're going to be very competitive. I'm very bullish on how we'll go and how we can improve."

What are they playing for?

Renowned as perhaps the most famous cricket trophy in Australia – if not the world – behind the Ashes urn, states have contested the Sheffield Shield for 134 years.

The origins of the Shield date back to 1891 when Lord Sheffield (a promoter for the England team led by W.G. Grace) donated £150 for a trophy to be struck for inter-colonial cricket between NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Polish immigrant Phillip Blashki, a prominent Melbourne silversmith and watchmaker, won the tender to create the trophy and crafted a Shield of incredible detail, with over 150 different components of gold, silver and copper making up the overall piece. The Shield includes the Australian coat of arms, Lord Sheffield's coat of arms and a centerpiece depicting a cricket match at Lord Sheffield's Sheffield Park cricket ground in Sussex.

Victoria was the first state awarded the Sheffield Shield at the conclusion of the 1892-93 season. Since then, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania have joined the competition and what was a colonial trophy has become a state trophy.

Since 1982-83, a final between the two top-ranked teams has determined the winner of the Sheffield Shield.

NSW (47) have won the Shield the most times, followed by Victoria (32) and Western Australia (18) despite joining the competition in 1947-48, more than 50 years after its formation. South Australia have won back-to-back titles to take their tally to 15; Queensland took 68 years to lift the Shield for the first time after entering the competition in 1926-27 but have won it nine times since 1994-95, while Tasmania, who were the sixth state to join in 1977-78, have won it three times.

How else can I follow?

If you're not able to attend or watch live, or you just want to relive all the action, you can get all the live scores, news, interviews and highlights on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.

You can also catch a replay of every wicket in the match centre on the CA Live app, which can be downloaded here.

Rapid stats

• Victoria have only lost their first match once in their past eight Sheffield Shield seasons (won three, drawn four). South Australia have failed to win their opening match in the past nine seasons (drawn five, lost four).
  
  
• NSW are unbeaten in their past three opening matches (won one, drawn two), including a 74-run win last season against Western Australia. Tasmania are also unbeaten in the opening round of their past three seasons (won one, drawn two).
  
  
• Queensland are unbeaten in the opening match of their past six seasons (won two, drawn four). WA lost their opening match last season after being unbeaten in their six previous season openers (won three, drawn three).
  
  
• Three South Australia players ranked in the top six bowlers with the most maidens bowled in the 2025-26 Sheffield Season (Liam Scott – 80, Nathan McAndrew – 60, Jordan Buckingham – 57); Fergus O'Neill (Victoria) was tied for top spot in the category (80).
  
  
• No players dismissed more opposition batters lbw than Victoria trio Fergus O'Neill (8), Sam Elliott (7) and Mitch Perry (6) last season.
  
  
• Sheffield Shield matches at Cricket Central have seen teams average 38.6 runs per wicket, the highest scoring rate at a ground since the 2021-22 season (minimum two matches hosted); that is almost 10 runs per wicket higher than the overall combined batting average in that span (28.7).
  
  
• Tasmania pair Jake Doran (235) and Tim Ward (226) scored the second and fourth most runs on balls pitched in line with the stumps in the 2025-26 Sheffield Shield season (Peter Handscomb was first in this category with 236, with teammate Campbell Kellaway third on 229).
  
  
• Queensland averaged 295 runs in the first innings of their matches last season, the most of any team. Western Australia had the lowest first innings average with 228 runs.
  
  
• Joel Paris (Western Australia) bowled a dot on 86.1 per cent of his 456 deliveries in the 2025-26 Sheffield Shield season, the highest rate of any bowler (minimum two innings bowled); he picked up five wickets from his three matches last season.

How does the points system work?

Teams get six points for an outright win, one point for a draw, plus 0.01 of a bonus point for every run over 200 they score during the first 100 overs of their first innings (for example: 350 runs after 100 overs gets you 1.5 bonus points) and 0.1 of a bonus point for every wicket they take during the first 100 overs of their opponent's first innings (for example: 10 wickets in the first 100 overs equals 1 bonus point).