1980–81 Sheffield Shield season
Australian cricket tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1980–81 Sheffield Shield season was the 79th season of the Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class cricket competition in Australia. It started on 17 October 1980 and finished on 9 March 1981. Going into the final round of matches, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland were all in a position to win the Shield. It would be Western Australia, who found form in the second half of the season with four straight victories, who would emerge victorious, drawing against Queensland to secure its eighth championship.
Dates17 October 1980 – 10 March 1981
AdministratorCricket Australia
Cricket formatFirst-class
Tournament formatDouble round-robin
| Dates | 17 October 1980 – 10 March 1981 |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Cricket Australia |
| Cricket format | First-class |
| Tournament format | Double round-robin |
| Champions | Western Australia (8th title) |
| Participants | 6 |
| Matches | 25 |
| Player of the series | Greg Chappell (Queensland) |
| Most runs |  Greg Chappell (Queensland) (906) |
| Most wickets |  Bruce Yardley (Western Australia) (40) |
Match summaries
17–20 October 1980 [1] |
Queensland (H) |
v |
|
0/37 (10 overs) |
- New South Wales won the toss and elected to field.
- Mike Whitney (New South Wales) made his first-class debut.
- Points: Queensland 4 (Batting 1, Bowling 3); New South Wales 11 (Batting 6, Bowling 5)
17–20 October 1980 [2] |
v |
||
- Western Australia won the toss and elected to field.
- Points: Western Australia 19 (Batting 4, Bowling 5); Victoria 5 (Batting 1, Bowling 4)
23–26 October 1980 [3] |
New South Wales (H) |
v |
|
- New South Wales won the toss and elected to bat.
- Points: New South Wales 22 (Batting 7, Bowling 5); Western Australia 3 (Batting 1, Bowling 2)
23–26 October 1980 [3] |
v |
South Australia (H) | |
4/68 (24.2 overs) Jeff Crowe 24 |
- Tasmania won the toss and elected to bat.
- Points: South Australia 20 (Batting 7, Bowling 3); Tasmania 9 (Batting 6, Bowling 3)
24–27 October 1980 [4] |
v |
Queensland (H) | |
- Victoria won the toss and elected to bat
- Rain washed out all of Day 2 and most of Day 3
- Greg Ritchie (Queensland) made his first-class debut
- Points: Queensland 10 (Batting 6, Bowling 4); Victoria 7 (Batting 4, Bowling 3)
30 October–1 November 1980 [5] |
v |
South Australia (H) | |
- South Australia won the toss and elected to field
- Jeff Hammond (South Australia) made his final first-class appearance
- Len Pascoe completed a hat-trick in South Australia's first innings
- Points: New South Wales 20 (Batting 5, Bowling 5); South Australia 2 (Bowling 2)
31 October–3 November 1980 [6] |
v |
Queensland (H) | |
0/82 (25 overs) Kepler Wessels 39* |
- Western Australia won the toss and elected to bat
- Ian Kelly (Queensland) made his first-class debut
- Carl Rackemann (Queensland) suffered a pulled shoulder muscle during Western Australia's second innings and was unavailable to bowl on Day 4.
- Points: Queensland 11 (Batting 6, Bowling 5); Western Australia 6 (Batting 4, Bowling 2)
5–7 March 1981 [7] |
New South Wales (H) |
v |
|
- Tasmania won the toss and elected to field.
- Rick McCosker retired hurt in the New South Wales first innings having scored 61 (team score 0/120) – he returned when the score was 4/157[8]
- Points: New South Wales 17 (Batting 2, Bowling 5); Tasmania 8 (Batting 3, Bowling 5)
6–9 March 1981 [9] |
v |
Victoria (H) | |
- South Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
- This was Ashley Mallett's final appearance in first-class cricket[10]
- Points: Victoria 10 (Batting 7, Bowling 3); South Australia 7 (Batting 6, Bowling 1)
6–9 March 1981 [11] |
v |
||
- Queensland won the toss and elected to field.
- Greg Ritchie (Queensland) retired hurt in the Queensland first innings having scored 0 (team score 3/59) – he returned when the score was 6/142[12]
- Points: Western Australia 11 (Batting 6, Bowling 5); Queensland 5 (Batting 1, Bowling 4)
Points table
| Team[13] | Pld | W | L | D | BatBP | BowBP | Adj | Pts | Quot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 36 | 125 | 1.070 | |
| New South Wales | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 45 | 37 | 122 | 1.487 | |
| Queensland | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 51 | 37 | 118 | 1.278 | |
| Victoria | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 29 | 91 | 1.040 | |
| Tasmania | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 18 | 31.2 | 70.2 | 0.571 |
| South Australia | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 28 | 31 | 69 | 0.708 |
Statistics
Most runs
| Player[14] | Team | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | Ave | HS | 100 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Chappell | Queensland | 7 | 10 | 2 | 906 | 113.25 | 194 | 4 | 3 |
| John Dyson | New South Wales | 7 | 11 | 2 | 815 | 90.55 | 152 | 3 | 4 |
| Martin Kent | Queensland | 9 | 16 | 4 | 809 | 67.41 | 171 | 2 | 5 |
| Kepler Wessels | Queensland | 9 | 16 | 2 | 747 | 53.35 | 160 | 2 | 2 |
| Brian Davison | Tasmania | 5 | 10 | 697 | 69.70 | 173 | 4 | 2 |
Most wickets
| Player[15] | Team | Mat | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Avge | BBI | SR | 5WI | 10WM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Yardley | Western Australia | 9 | 2261 | 968 | 40 | 24.20 | 7/62 | 56.5 | 3 | 1 |
| Jeff Thomson | Queensland | 9 | 1853 | 914 | 36 | 25.38 | 5/61 | 51.4 | 1 | |
| Len Pascoe | New South Wales | 7 | 1457 | 659 | 35 | 18.82 | 5/27 | 41.6 | 1 | |
| Geoff Lawson | New South Wales | 9 | 1917 | 845 | 35 | 24.14 | 5/50 | 54.7 | 1 | |
| Terry Alderman | Western Australia | 8 | 1474 | 747 | 32 | 23.34 | 4/33 | 46.0 | ||
| Dennis Lillee | Western Australia | 7 | 1743 | 765 | 32 | 23.90 | 6/97 | 54.4 | 2 |