| 2021–22 Sheffield Shield | |
| Fromdate: | 24 September 2021 |
| Todate: | 4 April 2022 |
| Administrator: | Cricket Australia |
| Cricket Format: | First-class |
| Tournament Format: | Double round-robin and final |
| Champions: | Western Australia |
| Count: | 16 |
| Participants: | 6 |
| Matches: | 24 |
| Player Of The Series: | Henry Hunt (SA) & Travis Dean (Vic)[1] |
| Most Runs: | Peter Handscomb (697) |
| Most Wickets: | Mark Steketee (32) |
| Previous Year: | 2020–21 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2020–21 Sheffield Shield season |
| Next Year: | 2022–23 |
| Next Tournament: | 2022–23 Sheffield Shield season |
The 2021–22 Sheffield Shield season was the 120th of the Australian inter-state domestic first-class cricket competition. Queensland were the defending champions.[2]
Initially, on 21 July 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed all the fixtures for the tournament.[3] [4] On 8 September 2021, Cricket Australia announced that the previous schedule had been scrapped due to ongoing lockdowns[5] in Sydney and Melbourne and subsequent border restrictions.[6] The fixtures for the first two matches were confirmed, with the full revised schedule to be released later.[7] However, the Round one's second match of the season, between Queensland and Tasmania, was postponed following an increase of COVID-19 cases in the state of Queensland.[8]
On 1 October 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed the fixtures for next three matches.[9] On 20 October 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed the next set of fixtures, following the border openings in Sydney and Melbourne.[10] On 5 November 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed the schedule for three further fixtures,[11] with the venue of the fifth round's first match between South Australia and Queensland that would have been decided based on the location of WBBL07 season finals.[12] Later, on 21 November 2021, it was confirmed that the match would take place at Karen Rolton Oval,[13] after the WBBL07 finals venue was confirmed as Adelaide Oval.[14]
On 19 November 2021, the start of the match between New South Wales and Victoria was delayed,[15] after Victoria player Will Sutherland's COVID-19 test result required further analysis.[16] Despite the positive test, Cricket Australia confirmed that the match would start a day later than planned on 20 November 2021.[17]
Western Australia were the first team to reach the final of the competition,[18] with them hosting the final for the first time since the 1997–98 Sheffield Shield season.[19] Victoria finished in second place to join Western Australia in the final.[20] The final ended in a draw, with Western Australia winning the tournament having earned more bonus points in their first 100 overs compared to Victoria.[21] [22]
| Team[23] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.69 | 32.82 | ||
| 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4.31 | 30.17 | ||
| 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3.89 | 31.09 | ||
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3.07 | 21.50 | ||
| 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3.03 | 27.23 | ||
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.71 | 21.66 |
Source:[24]
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| Player [25] | Team | Runs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Handscomb | 8 | 15 | 1 | 697 | 49.78 | 148 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sam Whiteman | 7 | 13 | 2 | 641 | 58.27 | 176 | 2 | 2 | |
| Hilton Cartwright | 8 | 15 | 1 | 601 | 42.92 | 121 | 2 | 3 | |
| Henry Hunt | 8 | 15 | 1 | 601 | 42.92 | 134 | 3 | 1 | |
| Tim Ward | 8 | 14 | 0 | 552 | 39.42 | 144 | 1 | 3 | |
| Player[26] | Team | Overs | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Steketee | 6 | 12 | 209.2 | 32 | 17.93 | 2.74 | 7/44 | 10/92 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Nathan McAndrew | 8 | 15 | 302.4 | 27 | 30.18 | 2.69 | 5/84 | 6/113 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Scott Boland | 5 | 10 | 218.3 | 26 | 17.07 | 2.03 | 5/56 | 8/89 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Gurinder Sandhu | 6 | 11 | 175.1 | 25 | 19.16 | 2.73 | 6/57 | 7/68 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Matthew Kuhnemann | 7 | 13 | 289.3 | 25 | 31.88 | 2.75 | 5/25 | 10/167 | 3 | 1 |