| Fromdate: | 21 January |
| Todate: | 3 March 1972 |
| Administrator: | WICB |
| Cricket Format: | First-class (four-day) |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin |
| Count: | 3 |
| Participants: | 5 |
| Matches: | 10 |
| Most Runs: |  Maurice Foster (511) |
| Most Wickets: | Vanburn Holder (20) |
| Previous Year: | 1970–71 |
| Previous Tournament: | 1970–71 Shell Shield season |
| Next Year: | 1972–73 |
| Next Tournament: | 1972–73 Shell Shield season |
The 1971–72 Shell Shield season was the fifth edition of what is now the Regional Four Day Competition, the domestic first-class cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The tournament was sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell, with matches played from 21 January to 3 March 1972.
Five teams contested the competition – Barbados, the Combined Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados were undefeated, winning three of their four matches and drawing the other to claim a third title (and first since the 1966–67 season). Jamaican batsman Maurice Foster led the tournament in runs, while Barbadian fast bowler Vanburn Holder was the leading wicket-taker.
| width=200 | Team | width=20 | width=20 | width=20 | width=20 | width=20 | width=20 | width=20 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 38 | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 26 | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | |||||||||
| Source: CricketArchive | |||||||||||||||
The top five run-scorers are included in this table, listed by runs scored and then by batting average.[1]
| Player | Team | Runs | Inns | Avg | Highest | 100s | 50s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 511 | 7 | 85.16 | 160 | 3 | 1 | |||
| 485 | 7 | 69.28 | 111 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 350 | 6 | 70.00 | 190 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 322 | 6 | 64.40 | 180* | 1 | 2 | |||
| 307 | 7 | 43.85 | 83 | 0 | 3 |
The top five wicket-takers are listed in this table, listed by wickets taken and then by bowling average.[2]
| Player | Team | Overs | Wkts | Ave | 5 | 10 | BBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 138.1 | 20 | 13.60 | 1 | 1 | 7/44 | |||
| 128.5 | 19 | 20.21 | 0 | 0 | 4/28 | |||
| 106.3 | 17 | 20.64 | 1 | 0 | 6/49 | |||
| 120.5 | 15 | 19.13 | 2 | 0 | 6/31 | |||
| 102.0 | 14 | 24.14 | 0 | 0 | 4/76 |