How Victoria could earn points for abandoned match

A recent rule change means Victoria will receive three competition points if their abandoned Marsh Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at the MCG can't be rescheduled.

The game between the Vics and Western Australia was called off on Sunday morning due to an unsafe pitch after WA's batsmen were struck in the head and body several times on Saturday.

It's the first time a Shield match has been abandoned since a game between NSW and Victoria at the SCG in 2015, after which the Vics – as the away team on that occasion – were awarded all six points for a 'win'.

But a tweak to Cricket Australia's playing conditions means the home team is no longer punished when a match is abandoned due to an unfit playing surface.

The rule change ahead of 2016-17 season means, unless the MCG match can be rescheduled, Victoria and Western Australia will split the points, gaining three each as well as an average of the bonus points awarded in the round's other two games.

"The rule was introduced a couple of years ago to allow the umpires to make a decision without undue influence from the away team, (who know) if they don't play, they get six points," Peter Roach, Cricket Australia's Head of Cricket Operations, explained on Sunday.

"I think the rule stands up and is the right one."

But before any points are allocated, the first step is to attempt to reschedule the match for later in the summer, a daunting task given the already jam-packed schedule.

The KFC Big Bash season begins on December 17 and will run until February 8, with the Shield season scheduled to resume just six days after that.

Over the final four rounds of the regular Shield season, the longest gap between matches is currently just seven days, leaving precious little time to squeeze in another four-day game.

Complicating matters further is the fact a Victoria-WA re-match would likely be played in Western Australia as the tweaked playing conditions state that a rescheduled match must, if possible, be played in the home state of the visiting team at a venue determined by Cricket Australia.

"You've got to take into account travel times, back-up times between Shield games and that comes into player safety again," said Victoria's skipper Peter Handscomb, who added he is keen for the match to be rescheduled given his side are yet to record a win so far this season.

"You've got to make sure guys have the appropriate time to recover between matches."

Following the BBL, Shield matches are currently scheduled to be played on February 14-17, February 24-27 and March 6-9. WA's final-round match against NSW in Perth is scheduled for March 17-20, while Victoria's last-round game is scheduled for March 19-23.

WA's final two matches of the season are already scheduled for the WACA Ground in Perth (on March 6-9 and March 17-20), while the Vics are scheduled to play in Adelaide on March 6-9 and then Junction Oval in Melbourne on March 19-23.

Pushing back the start of WA's final match by two days to coincide with Victoria's last game would create a 10-day window between March 10 to 19 that could potentially allow for an extra game to be scheduled, but Roach conceded it would be a difficult task.

"There's a small opportunity later in the season which we'll look at and work through in the coming days, but it'll be tough," he said.