Fan's Guide to Sheffield Shield Playing Conditions 2024/25

If teams are equal on total points, the team with the higher number of outright wins is placed higher.

If they are equal on both total points and outright wins, positions are decided by a quotient:

1. Divide the total runs scored by the team by the total wickets it lost.
2. Divide the total runs scored against the team by the total wickets it took.
3. Divide the first figure by the second. The team with the higher quotient is placed higher.

For these calculations, a team that forfeits or declares its innings closed is deemed to have lost only the wickets that actually fell.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, clause 16.9.5.

The two teams with the highest aggregate of total points at the end of the season play off in the Final for the Sheffield Shield for that season.

• Length: the Final is scheduled for five days, with hours of play advised on announcement of the venue.
• Host: the team that finished first on the points table at the end of the preliminary matches earns the right to host the Final at a venue within its state, or outside its state, provided the venue is a suitable first-class venue acceptable to Cricket Australia. If the team waives the right in writing, or Cricket Australia notifies the team in writing that the venue is not acceptable and no acceptable alternative is put forward within 24 hours, Cricket Australia selects the venue.
• Cricket Australia also reserves the right to oversee and direct the preparation of the pitch for the Final at any venue.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, clauses 16.9.5 and 43.

If the Final is drawn, the result is decided using bonus points, calculated in the same way as in the regular season (0.01 per run over 200 and 0.1 per wicket, capped at 1.0, in the first 100 overs of each side's first innings).

• If the bonus points are tied, the team that finished higher on the Sheffield Shield ladder is declared the winner.
• In a reduced-overs match, a result from bonus points applies only if a minimum of 270 completed overs are bowled in the match. If there is no result at the end of a reduced-overs match, the team that finished higher on the ladder is declared the winner.
• If there has been no play on the first three days, the match becomes a first-innings match, with no compulsory declaration, and the first innings result determines the winner.
• If at or after the start of lunch on the fifth day both captains accept there is no prospect of a result, they may agree to cease play.

Otherwise the side with more runs across its two innings wins.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, clauses 43.2 and 43.6.

The side that bats first may require the other side to follow on if it leads on the first innings by at least:

• 200 runs in the Sheffield Shield Final;
• 150 runs in a match of 3 or 4 days;
• 100 runs in a 2-day match;
• 75 runs in a 1-day match.

The captain must notify the opposing captain and the umpires, and once notified the decision cannot be changed. If the first day's play is lost, the match becomes a three-day match (a four-day match for the Final) for this purpose.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, clause 14.

In a regular Sheffield Shield match, each day has three sessions of 2 hours scheduled duration, separated by an interval between each session (in the 2024-25 conditions).

• Days other than the last: a minimum of 96 overs (at least 16 per hour), or until the scheduled or rescheduled cessation time, whichever is later. Play may continue for a maximum of 30 minutes beyond the scheduled cessation time (Permitted Overtime).
• Last day: a minimum of 80 overs (or 16 per hour) for playing time other than the last hour.
• Lost time: play can be extended by up to an Additional Hour on the day (up to the amount of time lost), and up to 30 minutes (8 overs) per day can be added on following days to make up lost time.
• Sheffield Shield Final: a minimum of 90 overs per day, and on the last day a minimum of 75 overs (or 15 per hour) other than the last hour, with at least 15 overs bowled in the last hour.
• New ball: a new ball is used at the start of each innings, and in a match of more than one day the fielding captain may demand a new ball once 80 overs or more have been bowled with the old one.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, clauses 4.3, 4.4, 12.10, 12.11 and 43.3.

If the relevant medical personnel formally notify the match referee that a player has been diagnosed with concussion, the team may activate a Concussion Substitute for the remainder of the match.

• The diagnosis must be notified orally to the match referee (or to the umpires, to relay), then followed up in writing, with a copy of the completed Head Impact Trauma Report Form.
• The team's captain (or coach if the captain cannot) notifies the match referee and nominates a like-player to the opposing captain for approval, which must not be unreasonably withheld. If the opposing captain does not approve, the match referee makes the final determination in consultation with Cricket Australia.
• Once approved, the substitute is a complete replacement and can captain, bat, bowl, keep wicket or field as though a member of the starting XI.
• The team is not obliged to activate a substitute, and there is no maximum number of Concussion Substitutes in a match.
• The concussed player may take no further part in the match.
• On-field assessment is allowed a maximum of 5 minutes.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, Appendix C.

Cricket Australia appoints a third umpire from its panel to act as the emergency umpire and to officiate on TV or stream replays in all televised or streamed matches where the third-umpire technology is available.

• Run out, stumped, bowled and hit wicket: the on-field umpire may refer the appeal to the third umpire by making the shape of a TV screen with their hands. A red light means out and a green light means not out.
• Caught and obstructing the field: the bowler's end umpire first consults the striker's end umpire, then may consult the third umpire by two-way radio. If the third umpire says the replay evidence is inconclusive, the on-field decision communicated at the start of the consultation stands.
• Players may not appeal to the on-field umpires to use the Umpire Review. A breach may constitute dissent.

Source: Cricket Australia, 2024-2025 Sheffield Shield and Second XI Playing Conditions, Appendix D.

The answers in this FAQ come from the 2024-25 playing conditions handbook. Cricket Australia has since announced these changes on cricket.com.au:

• Injury substitutes (2025/26 trial, continuing in 2026/27): a team may replace a player injured or ill up to stumps on day two, and the opposition may make a matching tactical substitute. Each team may make one injury substitute per match, the replacement must match the injured player's role, the match referee approves it, and the replaced player has a mandatory 12-day standdown from national and domestic cricket. The 2026/27 announcement says the trial continues, subject to any change of position from the ICC.
• Session times (2026/27): morning 2 hours, lunch 40 minutes, afternoon 2 hours 15 minutes, tea 20 minutes, evening 1 hour 45 minutes, with an extra 30 minutes available to complete the daily overs. The daily minimum remains 96 overs.
• Pitches (2026/27): curators are told to lean towards the batter when in doubt.
• Points: Cricket Australia says it is not changing the points structure for 2026/27.

Concussion substitutes were unchanged in the 2025/26 announcement.

Sources: cricket.com.au, "Lean towards the batter: CA confirms Sheffield Shield playing condition changes" (25 August 2026) https://www.cricket.com.au/news/4565958 and the 1 October 2025 injury substitute announcement https://www.cricket.com.au/news/4373528