All you need to know for the Sheffield Shield

The schedule

Much like the Marsh One-Day Cup, which started yesterday, the schedule for the Marsh Sheffield Shield has been upended by state border closures.

With the NSW and Victoria squads in lockdown, the details of just two games have been confirmed so far, in Adelaide this week and Brisbane next week.

Confirmed matches so far:

Sep 24-27: South Australia v Western Australia, Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide

Sep 28-Oct 1: Queensland v Tasmania, Ian Healy Oval, Brisbane

When will the other games be confirmed?

Hopefully soon!

In announcing the rescheduled opening games on September 8, Cricket Australia said, "further fixtures will be confirmed as soon as possible" and CA officials continue to work with state governments to get more matches locked in.

It's hoped that players from Victoria and NSW will be able to re-locate to another state, which would allow all six teams to play each other while those two states are essentially cut off from the rest of the country due to high levels of community transmission of COVID-19.

Cricket.com.au will bring you the latest developments as soon as they are announced.

How can I watch?

The first two games of the season will be live streamed on your device on cricket.com.au, the CA Live app and Kayo Sports.

Fans looking to get their Shield fix on the big screen can use the CA Live app on Apple TV, or stream via our match centre and use Chromecast.

How else can I follow?

If you're not able to watch live or you just want to re-live all the action, you can get all the live scores, news and highlights on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.

You can also catch a replay of every wicket in the CA Live app's match centre, while push notifications can alert you to all the breaking news.

Can I attend?

The first two games of the season, at Adelaide's Karen Rolton Oval and Brisbane's Ian Healy Oval, are open to the public and free to attend.

Players to watch

The opening two games of the season will feature at least 10 players who are either in Australia’s Test set-up already or desperate to prove themselves ahead of the Ashes this summer.

The first match in Adelaide will see SA’s Alex Carey and WA’s Josh Inglis face off, with both men eager to put in a good performance to firmly establish themselves as Australia’s No.2 wicketkeeper-batsman behind Tim Paine, who has been tipped to hang up the gloves at the end of the summer.

And with Australia’s top six far from settled ahead of England’s arrival, they could also put their names forward to be picked as a frontline batter for the Ashes.

Interestingly, Inglis has opted to play the Shield game before departing for Australia’s World Cup campaign, while the other WA players in Australia’s World Cup squad – Ashton Agar and Mitch Marsh – will not play the first-class game.

SA skipper Travis Head will also be desperate for big runs early in the season as he aims to win his Test spot back, while the WA side will also feature Test No.6 Cameron Green and fast bowler Jhye Richardson, who is back to full fitness and eyeing off a Test return this summer.

The game in Brisbane is also expected to feature a handful of Test batting contenders, led by Queensland skipper Usman Khawaja and Tasmania’s Ben McDermott.

Australia’s incumbent No.3, Marnus Labuschagne, will also play for the Bulls, while Michael Neser and Mitchell Swepson are both expected to be at least on the fringes of Australia’s Test squad this summer.

One big name who won’t be taking part in the opening rounds is Test skipper Paine, who is recovering from recent neck surgery.

If matches involving NSW and Victoria are scheduled in the coming weeks, Test contenders like Will Pucovski, James Pattinson, Marcus Harris (all Victoria) and Australia’s incumbent spinner Nathan Lyon (NSW) and allrounder Sean Abbott will all be looking to impress ahead of England’s arrival.

How does the points system work again?

Teams get six points for an outright win, one point for a draw, plus 0.01 of a bonus point for every run over 200 they score during the first 100 overs of their first innings (ie: 350 after 100 overs nets you 1.5 bonus points) and 0.1 of a bonus point for every wicket a team takes during the first 100 overs of their opponent's first innings (ie: 10 wickets before 100 first-innings overs elapses nets you 1 point).

The squads

NSW Blues

Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Patrick Cummins*, Oliver Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hackney, Josh Hazlewood*, Liam Hatcher, Lachlan Hearne, Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon*, Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith*, Mitchell Starc*, Chris Tremain, David Warner*, Adam Zampa*. Rookies: Josh Baraba, Ryan Hadley, Jack Nisbett, Hunar Verma

In: Oliver Davies, Lachlan Hearne, Baxter Holt, Tanveer Sangha

Out: Nick Larkin, Nathan McAndrew (SA), Arjun Nair, Daniel Solway

Queensland Bulls

Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Joe Burns, Max Bryant, Blake Edwards, Sam Heazlett, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne*, Michael Neser, Lachlan Pfeffer, Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Jack Wood. Rookies: Jack Clayton, Will Prestwidge, Connor Sully, Matthew Willans

In: James Bazley, Will Prestwidge

Out: Brendan Doggett (SA), Nathan McSweeney (SA), Corey Hunter, Benji Floros

South Australia Redbacks

Wes Agar, Alex Carey*, Jake Carder, Brendan Doggett, Daniel Drew, Ryan Gibson, David Grant, Travis Head, Henry Hunt, Sam Kerber, Jake Lehmann, Nathan McAndrew, Nathan McSweeney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Tim Oakley, Lloyd Pope, Kane Richardson*, Liam Scott, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Daniel Worrall. Rookies: Jordan Buckingham, Bailey Capel, Kyle Brazell, Corey Kelly, Thomas Kelly

In: Brendan Doggett, Nathan McSweeney, Nathan McAndrew, Jake Carder, Sam Kerber, Ryan Gibson

Out: Callum Ferguson (retired), Chadd Sayers (retired), Tom Cooper, Brad Davis, Conor McInerney, Luke Robins, Cameron Valente

Tasmanian Tigers

Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tim Paine*, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Mac Wright, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster. Rookies: Jarrod Freeman, Brad Hope, Mitch Owen, Nivethan Radhakrishnan

In: Brad Hope, Nivethan Radhakrishnan

Out: Alex Doolan, Keegan Oates, Alex Pyecroft, Tom Rogers, Jack White

Victoria

Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Travis Dean, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch*, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Seb Gotch, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell*, Jonathan Merlo, Tom O'Connell, Wil Parker, James Pattinson*, Mitchell Perry, Will Pucovski, James Seymour, Matt Short, Will Sutherland. Rookies: Brody Couch, Sam Elliott, Tom Jackson, Cameron McClure, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill.

In: James Seymour, Fergus O'Neill

Out: Patrick Rowe

Western Australia

Ashton Agar*, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green*, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Bryce Jackson, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson*, Corey Rocchiccioli, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman. Rookies: Cooper Connolly, Sam Fanning, Jayden Goodwin, Bryce Jackson

Ins: Corey Rocchiccioli, Cooper Connolly, Bryce Jackson

Outs: Jake Carder (SA), Brad Hope (TAS), Liam O'Connor

* CA contracted player