2017–18 Sheffield Shield season 2017–18 Sheffield Shield season The 2017–18 Sheffield Shield season was the 116th season of the Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class cricket competition in Australia. It started on 26 October 2017 and finished on 27 March 2018. The opening round of matches were played as day/night fixtures and the first three rounds of matches took place before the Ashes series. Victoria were the defending champions. In round two of the competition, Mitchell Starc became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in each innings of a first-class cricket match in Australia. He became the second Australian, and the eighth bowler overall,
Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield The Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield is the oldest and longest consecutively run club cross-country event in the world. In 1896, a Dublin jeweller, Mr. Samuel Waterhouse, presented the Donore Harriers club with a silver shield for a 10-mile handicap cross-country race. The shield was known as the 'Donore Harriers Waterhouse Challenge Shield'. This race now known as the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield has been competed for every year, except 1916, since then, on St. Stephen’s Day (26 December). The race starts and finishes every year at the same tree beside the Dog Pond on the horse