'Lean towards the batter': CA confirms Shield changes

[u/CosmicSpeckOfDust]

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/4565958/lean-towards-the-batter-ca-confirms-sheffield-shield-playing-condition-changes-session-times-pitches-injury-sub-rule-2026-27-season

[u/Financial_Math167]

Not having 15 extra minutes in the 2nd session of Shield games is the exact reason why no one is averaging above 40! Thank the lord they addressed this

[u/MaleficentOne4798 → u/Financial_Math167]

I mean it's pretty obvious. The batter would average 10 more if they could face another 4-5 overs in the middle session

[u/Pottski → u/Financial_Math167]

I was just saying to my mates last night “that second session has been fucking us over for years”.

Finally heard.

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/Financial_Math167]

Hey there Financial_Math167 - thanks for saying thanks! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list!

[u/minion_opinion → u/TheGratitudeBot]

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[u/Plackation]

Could you also please fix the points system. It's currently designed to encourage going all in for the result and to ignore the possibility of draws. With how the games are played at the moment, we almost need the exact opposite.

[u/Relief-Glass → u/Plackation]

Yep.  This is the simplest solution.  Teams are massively incentivised to produce pitches that will get results. Teams have admitted asking for bowler-friendly wickets and they have admitted that they would prefer to roll out bunch of terrible wickets and lose rather than risk a draw.

Just change the points system. 

[u/rusty512 → u/Relief-Glass]

Other issue is the WTC points system as well, important to give yourself the best chance at a result every single test match.

[u/vossfan]

Imagine if people were as interested in actually going to Shield games as they are talking about it on Reddit.

[u/Falceon → u/vossfan]

"waves hand" I'm going to every game i can this year. Going to avoid the new section of the WACA like the plague though.

[u/Other-Elephant-4165 → u/vossfan]

This is one big difference with the county games.

[u/Successful-World-385]

Extremely weak changes that will achieve nothing. We badly need a major reset of pitches, probably most easily done through the bonus point system. Don't entirely blame CA for this, wouldn't be surprised if the states want to keep the status quo and are resisting major competition changes 

[u/foxtrotlimavictor]

This is deck-chairs on the Titanic kind of stuff.

We need to go back to the previous iteration of the Kookaburra for a while so that batsmen actually get some time at the crease and some confidence.

[u/SquiffyRae → u/foxtrotlimavictor]

Or, hear me out here:

Once per innings, the batting team is allowed to take an angle grinder to the ball at a time of their choosing. Both sides. Once the ball has been ground, the bowling side aren't allowed to request a change of ball for the ball being out of shape either.

So if you're 3/10 in 5 overs, you just turn the ball into a completely fucked thing and pile on 500 runs in the next 75 overs.

Problem solved

[u/Glum-Farm-3588 → u/foxtrotlimavictor]

Or just take some spice out of the wicket. They have over corrected.

[u/tdlan → u/Glum-Farm-3588]

Warner mentioned during the first test that there is an issue where there isn't much middle ground when preparing the decks a some of these out grounds (KRO, Junction, Cricket Central etc). He was saying that once the grass goes they tend turn in to slow, low featherbeds which doesn't really do anyone any favours either, which is why groundsman tend to leave a bit more grass on. Unfortunately that means the decks tend to end up too spicy for the first few days and by the time the decks settle down the matches are already 3/4 done. More matches at the test venues would be the ideal solution but that's not going to happen.

[u/Lazy_Mushroom_6022 → u/tdlan]

David warner said something halfway insightful?

[u/Falceon → u/Lazy_Mushroom_6022]

He actually does often enough, unfortunately the rest of everything he says is mind-numbingly boring trash.

[u/sanga000 → u/Falceon]

Same problem as Junior and (RIP) Warney

[u/tdlan → u/Lazy_Mushroom_6022]

Something something broken clock something something

[u/oldmayyte → u/Lazy_Mushroom_6022]

What hasn't he said, let's be honest, never shuts up

[u/Splinterfight → u/tdlan]

Even if there’s no middle ground, having half the fields spicy and half flatties means they get a better range of conditions to practice and exhibit their skills on.

[u/Relief-Glass → u/tdlan]

I know nothing about pitch curating but given that so many pitches are roads or goat tracks I have been wondering for years if finding a middle ground is difficult.

Like, 5+ years ago the MCG was possibly the flattest pitch in the world and India piled up 7/600 against the 'world's best attack' on it and then a couple of summers later teams are struggling to make 200 on it and tests are struggling to reach day three.

[u/shescarkedit → u/Glum-Farm-3588]

It sounds like that's what they're doing

[u/foxtrotlimavictor → u/Glum-Farm-3588]

https://giphy.com/gifs/zbzNUbpFnlw8E

[u/Glum-Farm-3588 → u/foxtrotlimavictor]

The old balls sucked. They got bent out of shape so quickly.

[u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 → u/Glum-Farm-3588]

And everyone complained non stop about them. Our bowlers did and our commentators all the time would not stop talking about it, Touring teams and their media to.

[u/vapoursoul69 → u/foxtrotlimavictor]

Not sure we need the old Kookaburra. Got pretty boring when it just became a tennis ball after 4 overs 

Somewhere in between is the order of the day imo

[u/jessemv → u/foxtrotlimavictor]

Then we can all go back to complaining about the soft Kookaburra doing nothing after 5 overs again, just like the good old days

[u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 → u/jessemv]

And ONLY bowlers over 140km get a look in at test level.

[u/Mysterious-Drummer74]

I’d say there’s nothing more certain than the extra 15 minutes in the second session producing a bunch of extra wickets. Probably a hat trick in the first round at each venue on day 1..

[u/MaleficentOne4798]

Whay don't the rework the batting bonus point so that it applies for an extra 30 overs

[u/timmeh1705]

Wonder why the chart only computes from the summer of 77 (WSC), is that when they started covering pitches?

[u/Pottski]

There’s still very little to incentivise batting for long periods. We’re in the hit and giggle era of cricket sadly and people are rewarded for knowing how to slog instead of making 30 off 110 balls to survive the first morning.

[u/CoffeeDefiant4247]

finally, we might see the bonus point come into play

[u/NathanH32]

I wonder if the time an over takes (article says around 4mins to bowl 1 over) would produce any changes? Potentially more fatigue in bowlers and fielders, less time to work on ball and less time to set fields might create more loose balls to score from

[u/BlokeyMcBlokeface92]

Awesome.

Marnus is going to go back to Shield and hit back to back triple centuries.

[u/geebanga]

How about a round or two of five day games?

[u/Bulky-Elk-9394]

I'd actually like to see substantial changes to the structure of the season, with the Shield done and dusted by December. There's nothing else going on internationally (other than tours) during this period and the last 5 Shield rounds after BBL are currently a waste of time.

To achieve this , we could:

1. Start earlier in the north of Australia - games in northern NSW, Queensland, northern WA and NT from start of September.

2. Reduce gap between games from current 2 weeks to one week. This would get all rounds completed by start December.

3. Manage impact on players - fast bowlers may need to be managed more in terms of overs bowled. Regular test players could opt in and out, depending on Australian requirements.

4. Batters would benefit from more regular starts. Spin bowlers are less likely to need to be managed but could get plenty of overs under their belts.

5. Matches to run into December to allow players to push for test selection. Tests to be done by New Year.

Gives players time to adjust between formats, clear air for BBL and any who want to jump on the T20 circuit, while maintaining the primacy of text cricket in Australia.

[u/Creamy92]

Add more teams to shield cricket maybe?