Sheffield Shield 2021-22 News

Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon is hopeful that at some stage of the upcoming Ashes down under, English all-rounder Ben Stokes would join his team. Stokes has been out of action since July this year. Firstly it was the finger injury that kept him out of India Tests, and later on, he clarified that mentally he was not in the right space to be able to give his best on the field. "I'm expecting him to come,” Lyon said ahead of his side New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield game next week. “You want to play against the best players in the world. Stokesy is the best all-rounder in the world. He's an x-factor, a game-changer, and you want to play against these sort of players," added the finger spinner in his chat with Cricket.com.au Getting concussed while practising, Lyon, who is stuck on 399 wickets in his Test career was in danger of missing out on the game against Victoria starting October 26. But now ready to play, asked if he had anything up his sleeves for the upcoming season, Lyon said he has developed a couple of mystery balls. “A couple of mystery balls always got a couple of mystery balls. That's been the beauty about this pre-season, it's been my first ever proper pre-season. I've been able to do a lot of fitness work and a lot of skills work. I've already started looking at a couple of England's batters, so that's exciting,” said the 33-year-old.

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon suffered a mild concussion during New South Wales’ intra-squad match. The right-arm bowler is expected to feature in the Sheffield Shield match next week. "In NSW's 3-day intra-squad trial match that began yesterday, Test spinner Nathan Lyon suffered a mild concussion and as a precaution has withdrawn from the rest of the fixture," Cricket NSW said. "Lyon was injured while fielding late in the day, after bowling 20 well executed overs (1/79), and is expected to play in next week's Sheffield Shield opener," it added. New South Wales will play Victoria at Drummoyne Oval, Sydney from October 27. The two sides will then lock horns with each other in Melbourne from November 5 and will play the Marsh Cup fixture at the same venue on November 12. The Cricket Australia (CA) had announced the next schedule for the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup with the borders of New South Wales and Victoria opening finally on Wednesday. Lyon who has played 100 Tests at the highest level has picked up 399 wickets at an economy of under 3 and an average of 32.1.

With lockdown norms not easing up in the states of Queensland, South Australi and Tasmania for visitors from New South Wales and Victoria states, players from these two states, who are hopeful of making it to the Australian Ashes squad, but aren’t part of the Aussie T20 World Cup squad are worried about reaching Brisbane for the first Ashes Test. Talking about such problems, Cricket NSW head of the male team, Michael Klinger said, "I suppose the next challenge for us is getting someone like Nathan up into Queensland where the first Test is going to be.” "We'll obviously work with Cricket Australia on that to find out how we're going to do that to make sure he's up there by late November, early December, whenever the guys come back from the World Cup as well,” Klinger added, saying that the problem is mainly due to the 14-day quarantine (if it is not exempted) and how to plan the quarantine to coincide with the rest of the Australian team members who would be returning from the T20 World Cup. "I suppose the biggest challenge with the guys coming back from the World Cup is we just don't know what date that will be because we just don't know if they're going to make the semi-final or the final, so we'll just have to be quite flexible with that situation and make sure we get Nath back to marry up with that. And potentially, we're hopeful guys like Moises Henriques and Sean Abbott might be in contention for selection as well,” said the former Australia player, who represented the national team in three T20Is. The lockdown issue has forced Cricket Australia to allow the NSW and Victorian teams to play each other in the Sheffield Sheild and Marsh Cup games as the other three states have closed their borders to them. Even after this Klinger is hopeful of getting an exemption from 14-day quarantine or individual players which might be easier, compared to getting it for teams. "I don't think it will be an issue for someone like Nathan. When Cricket Victoria and Cricket NSW are trying to get exemptions to get into other states when you're talking about players and staff, you're talking up to 40 to 50 people, and umpires included in that as well. I think it's a different story when you're trying to get exemptions for one, two, or three people than 40 or 50,” he said. "We certainly don't feel as though that will be an issue getting Nathan there or whoever else is needed. Similar situation with the Victorian guys as well with James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, maybe Marcus Harris, these sort of guys will be in the same boat,” added Klinger. The lockdown ash not only affected the Ashes aspiring players but has also been troublesome for Aussie T20 squad members such as Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa. While Zampa has been stuck in Byron Bay and is practising alone due to lockdown norms both in Sydney and Brisbane, where he was planning to go, Cummins and Daniel Sams have been able to practice together, but haven’t got even a single centre wicket practice game under their belt. Starc, on the other hand, has been travelling with the Australian women’s team to be with his wife Alyssa Healy and has been practising using their facilities.

Ahead of Thursday’s match between Queensland Bulls and Tasmania for the Sheffield Shield trophy, thieves broke the window of Queensland’s van and stole cricket equipment. The incident took place in Adelaide when the van was parked outside the hotel. Queensland’s wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson took to Instagram and informed about the incident. The matter has been reported to the South Australian police who are investigating the matter using CCTV footage. Peirson posted a photo of the damaged van and wrote, “someone’s got to be the unlucky one. If anyone sees a couple of brand new Gray Nic sticks floating around Adelaide can you let me know?” Earlier, the match between the two teams was scheduled to be played in Brisbane’s Ian Healy Oval on Thursday of the previous week, but due to the detection of four positive cases of COVID, the match was rescheduled and the venue was changed to Adelaide’s Karen Roltor Oval as Tasmania decided to fly back home. Sheffield Shield trophy, a domestic first-class competition of Australia, was first played in 1892-93. Six teams are currently part of this tournament. Queensland Bulls is the current champion of the tournament.

It wasn’t expected that only four locally acquired cases of Covid-19 could postpone a game of First-Class cricket, but it has happened as Tasmania decided to fly its team back home just ahead of the start of the second Marsh Sheffield Shield 2021-22 game between it and Queensland scheduled to start at Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane at 10 am on Tuesday, September 28. Queensland Cricket announced the postponement on Twitter and it was backed up by the statements from Tasmania Cricket and Cricket Australia. However, most of the people associated with Australian cricket believed that the match could have gone on in prevailing conditionals as the only health measure undertaken by the Queensland government is a return to mandatory mask-wearing in indoor settings for those in the Brisbane and Moreton Bay Areas. "Cricket Tasmania has made the decision to return their Tasmanian Tigers Marsh Sheffield Shield and One-Day squads to Tasmania today. This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” Cricket Tasmania said in a press release. "While the situation in Queensland hasn't prevented the match from commencing today, a cautious and considered approach is being taken and it is our strong opinion that we are better having our players and staff home as we build a better understanding of the current landscape. "We look forward to playing the Queensland Bulls at the first opportunity. We thank Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia for their understanding and flexibility with this match postponement, and we hope that this preventative measure will, with hindsight, not have been required,” the statement added. CA on its account confirmed that while the Shield match would be rescheduled, the information regarding the List-A game is still to be updated. "The (Shield) match will be rescheduled to a new date later in the season, following the Tasmanian team's decision to fly home today. Further updates regarding the scheduled Marsh One-Day Cup match between the two sides, due to be played this Sunday, October 3, will be provided in due course,” it said.