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,
Sheffield All schools are non-selective, mixed sex schools (apart from Sheffield High School which is an all-girls school). The Early Years Education and Childcare Service of Sheffield City Council manages 32 nurseries and children's centres in the city. Sheffield has a long sporting heritage. In 1857 a collective of cricketers formed the world's first-ever official football club, Sheffield F.C., and the world's second-ever, Hallam F.C., who also play at the world's oldest football ground in the suburb of Crosspool. Sheffield and Hallam are today Sheffield's two major non-league sides, although Sheffield now play just outside the city in nearby Dronfield, Derbyshire.