Cricket Australia amends injury sub rule for Sheffield Shield final

Cricket Australia has made a tweak to their injury substitution rule for the Sheffield Shield final but are understood to be delighted with how the trial has worked across the course of the season ahead of submitting the findings to the ICC.

The changes for the final were announced back in December when CA confirmed the trial would be extended until the end of the season. With the final a five-day game, Victoria and South Australia will be able to make a substitution up until the end of day three, rather than the current day two cut-off of a standard four-day fixture.

CA has used the new rule in first-class cricket this season on the back of India’s initial trial for external injuries only, as the ICC continues to consider whether to bring injury substitutions in for Test cricket. Cricket South Africa has also run a trial over their domestic summer while the ECB will introduce one in the upcoming County Championship season.

Alongside the time limit of when a substitution can be made, CA’s trial has also been set apart by allowing the opposition to make a like-for-like tactical substitution in response prior to stumps on day two (in the regular season) to mitigate against any perceived disadvantage. The injured player who is subbed out cannot play for the next 12 days, again to avoid the rule being exploited.

CA is happy with how this has played out as it is felt there is too much advantage for teams to bring fresh players in late in the game and they also believe teams can manage with fewer resources in the final two days of a game if there is an injury in that period.

There have only been six injury substitutes across the season and CA were surprised by the number of injuries to batters. There was only one tactical substitution, and it came in the round eight match between Tasmania and New South Wales when allrounder Jack Edwards injured his hamstring and was replaced by Charlie Anderson. Tasmania took the opportunity to sub out seamer Gabe Bell after he had bowled 20 overs in the first innings, on the back of bowling 32.4 in the fourth innings against Western Australia a week earlier, and brought in a fresh bowler in Aiden O’Connor.

There is also a provision for the final where CA’s chief medical officer John Orchard may ask an injured player to undergo a scan before being subbed out given it is the last game of the season and players do not risk missing the next game under the 12-day stand down policy.

It will be relevant for the Shield final with South Australia quick Brendan Doggett racing to be fit coming off a serious hamstring injury. SA coach Ryan Harris said on Sunday that they would not take any undue risks with Doggett, and that a recurrence of the injury could put his Test ambitions against Bangladesh in August in jeopardy, but the injury substitute rule would provide cover if they did play Doggett and lost him during the game.

Victoria equally could sub in a fresh bowler at the same stage if required given they are likely to squeeze one of their form seamers out of the final XI when Fergus O’Neill returns from being rested in round ten.

CA has already tweaked the 12-day stand-down rule slightly after encountering one unforeseen situation with the first injury substitute, Sean Abbott, in round one. Abbott split the webbing in his hand against Victoria and was subbed out of the game with just 13 days until a T20I against India that he was in line to play. Split webbing is a rare example of an injury that can recover inside 12 days.

There was a provision written into the trial rule that the stand-down requirement could be waived if a player is seeking to represent Australia within the 12-day period, but only after a submission is approved by Orchard, CA’s head of cricket operations Peter Roach and CA’s chief of cricket James Allsopp.

CA do not yet know if they can use the rule next season as they were only granted the trial for this summer by the ICC while being able retain first-class status.

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