This Australian summer's last round of Sheffield Shield fixtures were officially cancelled on Sunday (March 15) with Cricket Australia fearing the spread of COVID-19. This, making it the first occasion of nation's premier domestic first-class competition being cancelled before its conclusion since the Second World War.
With nine of the ten rounds already completed, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania were due to host Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria in respective games. In the given circumstances, all of those games have been cancelled.
NSW, having already reached the summit-clash, was awaiting its opponent for the final scheduled at North Dalton Park in Wollongong from March 27. But with the board announcing that a decision of the final will be taken in "due course", it remains to be seen whether NSW will be awarded title holders for topping the table or no winner is declared.
Contested every season since 1892, the Shield only stopped before this because of the First World War from 1915 to 1919 and the Second World War from 1940 to 1946.
"At times like this, cricket must take a back seat for the greater good," the CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said in a media release. "We have been in consultation with relevant government agencies, our own medical team and an infectious-diseases expert for quite some time now, and we have taken all their advice into account in making these decisions."
"In recent days, it has become evident that we must play our part in helping limit the spread of the virus by reducing person-to-person contact wherever possible. These measures reflect that."
"The decisions made this week are not something we are accustomed to in cricket. But by making them, we hope we can contribute to the global effort to slow, and eventually stop, the spread of coronavirus."
CA is taking precautionary measures to tackle the pandemic, with all other remaining games for the summer also either postponed or cancelled. The last international assignment of the season, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, was also postponed after New Zealand government put strict travelling restrictions on all its citizens, forcing the national side to go back home after playing the first ODI in Sydney behind closed doors.
(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)
