Updates and analysis from the last match of the Australian season
Welcome to our live report for the opening day of the Sheffield Shield final between Queensland and defending champions New South Wales at Allan Border Field in Brisbane. Join us for updates throughout the day.
*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local.
9.15am: The talking points
New South Wales almost have Australia’s Test attack for this match (just missing Pat Cummins who is at the IPL) but there batting has a far more inexperienced look after changes were made following the 32 all out against Tasmania. However, there are already signs that was the right move. Dan Brettig takes a look at the future.
The New South Wales selectors had already shown some degree of interest in the future arc of the national team by elevating Pat Cummins to the domestic limited-overs captaincy ahead of Smith. It was a call effectively indicating their preference for who they would like to see named national captain whenever the time comes for Tim Paine to surrender his post – most likely after next summer’s Ashes series, as commentary roles and the release of a memoir await him.
At the same time, the Tasmania defeat forced a pivot to a far more less experienced batting line-up for the final Shield game against Queensland with a place in the final still to secure. Out went Larkin, Solway and Nevill; in came Matthew Gilkes, Jack Edwards, Lachlan Hearne and Baxter Holt as wicketkeeper. Of this group, Edwards (to turn 21 on the final day of the final) has already been heavily invested in, while Hearne (20) and Holt (21) have been growing ever more impatient for chances to show their wares.
9.00am: The final act
It’s been a long season – the longest ever – and we’ve reached the final game. Who will take the Sheffield Shield title? It should be a terrific contest with a host of international players on show across both sides.
The early news from Allan Border Field is that New South Wales have won the toss and will bat
Queensland 1 Bryce Street, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Usman Khawaja (capt), 5 Matt Renshaw, 6 Jimmy Peirson (wk), 7 Jack Wildermuth, 8 Michael Neser, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Mitch Swepson, 11 Brendan Doggett
New South Wales 1 Daniel Hughes, 2 Matthew Gilkes, 3 Kurtis Patterson (capt), 4 Jason Sangha, 5 Jack Edwards, 6 Sean Abbott, 7 Baxter Holt (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Trent Copeland, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Want to know how things are decided if it’s draw…here are the details
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo