The New South Wales Blues have been declared Sheffield Shield champions for 2019-20 after Cricket Australia cancelled the final and all other organised cricket as part of its response to coronavirus.
The Blues were set to face Victoria in the final in Wollongong starting next Friday, March 27, however Cricket Australia’s decision to call the match off has seen the title handed to NSW.
“By effectively cancelling the remainder of our season, Cricket Australia is playing its part in protecting fans, players, staff, volunteers and match officials during this unprecedented global health issue,” Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts said.
“These are difficult decisions, but the right ones in the circumstances.
“Many will no doubt be disappointed that the Sheffield Shield, Premier Cricket and community cricket seasons won’t have their traditional ending. That said, we congratulate New South Wales who were 12 points clear at the top of the table on being crowned Sheffield Shield champions.
“As organisations around the world rally to slow the spread of the coronavirus, it’s important that we also provide decisive leadership. We hope that by taking these actions now – in addition to those announced in recent days – we can contribute to ‘flattening the curve’ of coronavirus and society returning to normal as quickly as possible.”
The Blues enjoyed a dominant season, finishing top of the table with six wins – twice as many as the second-placed Bushrangers – and 12 points clear of their interstate rivals having lost only two of their nine matches.
It is their first title since the 2013-14 season, although they finished as runners-up to Victoria last year.
Cricket Australia had earlier cancelled the last round of the home-and-away season due to the spread of coronavirus but had held off on making a call on the final itself, even as cancellations became the norm in the sporting world. Today’s announcement marks the first time the competition has been cancelled since World War II.
Meanwhile, CA has recommended all forms of organised cricket – including grade and club competitions – be cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
In a statement released on Tuesday morning, the governing body said the decision was based on expert advice from their chief medical officer, as well as information from the government.
“CA has strongly recommended that all amateur cricket played within the community should cease including community cricket and Premier Cricket,” the statement read.
“Based on expert advice from CA’s chief medical officer, John Orchard, and recent government information we want to ensure that cricket is doing everything it can to contribute to the global effort to slow, and eventually stop, the spread of coronavirus.
“While cricket is a relatively safe and non-contact sport there are considerable measures that need to be in place to adhere to expert advice around reducing the risk of spreading the virus. We focused specifically on minimising the risk and impact on the cricket communities that we lead and serve, as well as their families.”
CA was the first major Australian sporting organisation to go behind closed doors when they announced the ODI series against the Black Caps would be played in front of empty stadiums. However, only one of the three scheduled fixtures took place before that series was scrapped following the New Zealand Government’s decision to introduce tough border restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Damn cheating cricketers, winning all those SS games to prove they have been the best domestic team this season by a country mile. Damn them to hell!
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
a whiney Mexican?
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
CK; But the moment they are shutting out all the fans there’s really no such thing as home advantage (as seen by the fact that all three matches so far the away team won), Yeah, the away side wins were weird, but I'd argue that there was still a significant home town advantage. That's a longggg flight between Perth & Sydney (The DVT Special). Especially if you're basketball tall.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
They've got a far better case than NSW had. No Final y'see.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
And then utterly trashed by gifting the Shield to a side who didn't win it. And people, well, NSW residents, scoff at those who believe that NSW runs cricket in Oz.
Nick
Roar Guru
Word is that if the season can't resume that they will do one of two things 1. Go back to match day 28 (as a few teams have yet to play 29 matches) and award Liverpool the title, and award the European spots to the teams based on the ladder, and relegate those in the drop zone at 28. Some teams will get mad because they were in/out of particular spots on round 28 compared to round 29. Could get messy. 2. Void all competitions. Which will infuriate any club that were odds on to be promoted.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
If they called off the NBL finals after 3 games, then that should be the result. I still don't get why they kept flying back and forth between Perth and Sydney. That's a tough final series. But the moment they are shutting out all the fans there's really no such thing as home advantage (as seen by the fact that all three matches so far the away team won), I don't get why they didn't just lock all the players down in the same place and just play the best of 5 matches back to back in the same venue. No flights required. I can see the alternate argument regarding the winner, the finals series are best of 5, called off mid way through could therefore count as invalidating the finals and the team that was the top team through regular season is declared winner. But it's not like calling it off mid-way through a single match. They've played 3, which is what the semi's are, best of 3. So it makes more sense to me that the team ahead after those three games is handed the finals victory. So I think it makes a lot more sense to award it to the Wildcats rather than the Kings at this point. And yes, I'm from Sydney.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Hardly a case of "gifting" them the league. They are 25 points clear at the top with 9 games to go. They've well and truly earned the title. No gift there. The sad thing about the EPL getting cut short is killing off the chance to break the record for the most points in an EPL season that they were well and truly on track to get. But with what is a relatively short off-season compared to other sports, it's hard to see how they can play a full 38 game season now. The big question is the UEFA Champions League and other cups and things. Can't award them to the team that's "on top" as there's no such thing. So if they can't get back on the park soon could that mean we simply don't have a victor for a lot of those sorts of competitions this year? Or maybe they push the final matches of that well into next season.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Blahh, NSW will do anything to win :silly:
Rellum
Roar Guru
Not in QLD
Micko
Roar Rookie
Let's hope so! :happy: :thumbup:
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
It has been a terrific Shield season with some really gripping games.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Will you be that happy when the Wildcats are declared winners of the NBL?
HR
Roar Rookie
T20 World Cup was pretty good, and I quite enjoyed watching Warner score his triple and Marnus crushing all before him. But there weren't too many genuine contests.
Simoc
Guest
Congratulations NSW. Deserved winners. Good decision.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
You know, Cricket ‘19 has a pretty good creation mode, maybe do the finals on that instead, I’d watch
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Fair enough. It won't surprise me if at least one local association somewhere in the country decides to forge ahead though.
Nick
Roar Guru
Reckon Liverpool will be using this as precedent to get the EPL to gift them the league if it doesn't resume?
Daniel Jeffrey
Editor
That's not something I'd even consider. Much as I love my club cricket, I don't have a problem putting it and other hobbies on the backburner during this pandemic. A stitch in time, and all that...
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
It reads as though it's only a recommendation from CA. What could they do if you 'went rogue' and played it out. It's not as though they could deregister your club and players is it?