How your state is placed for Sheffield Shield final

With five games left to play in the Marsh Sheffield Shield season, the number of contenders for a spot in this season's five-day final looks to have narrowed to four teams.

Queensland and New South Wales will be difficult to displace at the top of the standings but Western Australia and Victoria remain in the hunt if one of them can win their final two games, elevating the importance of this week’s clash at the WACA Ground.

Marsh Sheffield Shield ladder and fixtures

Despite leaping into third with their thumping win over the Blues inside three days, Tasmania are only a distant hope.

The fact that batting bonus points are uncapped means technically no team is ever completely out of the running, though South Australian players would be safe to start making plans for a mid-April holiday.

The final will be held between the top two placed sides from April 15 at the nominated venue of the top team.

A reminder that teams get six points for an outright victory, three for a tie or an abandoned game, one for a draw and none for a loss. Bonus points are also crucial; sides get 0.01 of a point for every run scored over 200 in the first 100 overs of their first innings and 0.1 of a point for every wicket taken inside the first 100 overs of their opponents' first innings.

Teams are also only playing eight games (instead of 10 in a regular season) due to schedule complications earlier in the season.

Here's the state of play for each of the six Sheffield Shield teams:

QUEENSLAND (First)

Points: 29.84 (W: 3 | D: 2 | L: 1 | BP: 9.84)

Remaining games:

v South Australia at Ian Healy Oval, Brisbane, March 23

v NSW at North Dalton Park, Wollongong, April 3

The Bulls are sitting pretty atop the Sheffield Shield standings and a fourth outright win in either of their two games to come should see them lock in top spot and hosting rights for the five-day decider.

Queensland have nominated Allan Border Field as their preferred venue for the final should they finish top.

Missing the final altogether appears unlikely, though not impossible; they would need to lose to South Australia and NSW, while Victoria or Western Australia would also need to win both their remaining games.

NEW SOUTH WALES (Second)

Points: 29.01 (W: 3 | D: 3 | L: 1 | BP: 9.01)

Remaining game:

v Queensland at North Dalton Park, Wollongong, April 3

The Blues loomed as the main threat to dislodge Queensland from top spot but their dismal showing in Hobart this week has brought them back to the pack somewhat.

The reigning champions are still in the box seat to make the final, though their hopes of hosting suffered a considerable blow after being bowled out for just 32 and losing heavily to the Tigers.

NSW will have a better idea of the importance of their final game – against Queensland, in what could be a Shield final preview – after the other two games of round seven (Queensland v SA and WA v Victoria) are complete.

TASMANIA (Third)

Points: 20.34 (W: 1 | D: 3 | L: 3 | BP: 11.34)

Remaining game:

v Western Australia at the WACA Ground, April 3

The Tigers recorded a resounding victory over NSW, their first win of the season, though captain Matthew Wade admitted on Monday their hopes of a final spot are all but shot.

Wade's men leapfrogged both WA and Victoria with their 298-run thumping of the Blues, but those two teams plus Queensland all have two games to play while Tassie have only one.

In would be a tall order for them overtake second-placed NSW and then stay there; Tasmania would need to defeat WA in Perth while registering almost three full bonus points; scoring 400 inside the first 100 overs of their first batting innings and bowling WA out in their first bowling innings might be enough if the Blues lost spectacularly in their final game.

That would leave their points tally just shy of 30, which they would then have to hope none of NSW, WA or Victoria can then overtake.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA (Fourth)

Points: 19.7 (W: 1 | D: 5 | L: 0 | BP: 8.7)

Remaining games:

v Victoria, at the WACA Ground, Perth, March 25

v Tasmania at the WACA Ground, Perth, April 3

More than 10 points separate them and the ladder-leaders, but Western Australia are still within striking distance of their first Shield title in 21 years with two games to play on their home turf.

WA would likely need to defeat both Victoria and Tasmania. A win and a draw, with a healthy handful of bonus points might be enough, but they would then be relying on NSW to lose to or draw with Queensland next month.

The potential returns of their fresh-out-of-quarantine Australian T20 squad members not heading to the upcoming Indian Premier League – Josh Philippe, Ashton Agar, D'Arcy Short and Ashton Turner – could boost their hopes.

VICTORIA (Fifth)

Points: 18.57 (W: 1 | D: 5 | L: 0 | BP: 7.57)

Remaining games:

v Western Australia, at the WACA Ground, Perth, March 25

v South Australia, at the Junction Oval, Melbourne, April 3

Victoria were behind the eight ball after failing to convert dominant batting in their two games before Christmas into wins, and two more draws (both rain-affected) from their two most recent games have compounded a frustrating season.

Their low tally of bonus points (only bottom-placed South Australia have fewer) means, like WA, only two wins from their last two games is likely to be enough to snag a spot in the final. 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Sixth)

Points: 9.21 (W: 0 | D: 3 | L: 3| BP: 6.21)

Remaining games:

v Queensland at Ian Healy Oval, Brisbane, March 23

v Victoria, at the Junction Oval, Melbourne, April 3

The Redbacks are all but out of the hunt for a final berth and instead will be focused on avoiding a fourth consecutive wooden spoon.

Tasmania's win over the Blues has left Jason Gillespie's side nearly 10 points adrift of Victoria in fifth spot.

While an elusive title is out of reach, South Australia have shown they will not be easy-beats after Christmas; they were one wicket away from defeating WA at the WACA last month while they had the better of NSW for much of their most recent game at Adelaide Oval before an aggressive declaration resulted in a six-wicket loss.