Sheffield Shield: New South Wales claim Shield after Steve Smith ton

Steve Smith (R) is congratulated by Moises Henriques after reaching his century

A splendid ton from Steve Smith ensured New South Wales drew the Sheffield Shield final with Western Australia and claimed the Shield for the first time since 2008. After having secured a lead of 267 runs in the second innings on the third day, NSW managed 197 for the loss of four wickets on the last day of the match at Canberra after entire fourth day was washed out due to heavy rain. With this win, NSW have claimed the title and it’s their first domestic title since 2008.

Steve Smith is growing as a cricketer and showed a lot of maturity in his century. Having lost couple of wickets upfront, Steve Smith decided to stay at the crease. In between, he also lost Ben Rohrer for 27. But he didn’t panic at that stage. WA’s intent was clear. They were searching for wickets. The field placements also suggested the same. However, Steve Smith batted with patience and put on 91 runs for fourth wicket with Kurtis Patterson to deny Western Australia from coming back into the match.

It’s been a great summer for Steve Smith. He had good home series against England, and it was followed by a good series in South Africa. He’s been top class batsmen and is a young leader who led NSW and was delighted to be part of this team which claimed the title. It’s the first Shield title for Steve Smith and he had waited 12 months for this.

“It’s very special, this is the first Shield final I’ve been a part of and to win the Shield it’s just been an amazing 12 months for me and the whole thing’s still kind of a blur,” he said. “It’s just been a whirlwind 12 months for me. Everything’s been so amazing, dreams have come true. To win an Ashes series, win an away series with Australia and the to back it up with the Sheffield Shield it’s very, very special.”

Smith has been a great player of the front-foot. What was good to see in this particular match was, he repeatedly forced WA to spread the field. Whenever, they had men in catching positions, he forced them to spread by taking on the attack. Since he had experience of playing on slow tracks, this one was too simple for Smith.

When on 89, he struck twice to bring up his century in quick time. He lofted a glorious six off Agar straight down the ground, and it was followed by a beautiful four towards midwicket region. This innings certainly would have boosted the confidence of Smith and would be the batsmen to watch out for in the forthcoming series for Australia.

“I think you should have an advantage for coming first if you’re going to have a final,” Smith said after the game was called off by mutual agreement between bot the captains. “If they go down that road I think that’s the best way to do it.”

If Smith played an important role in second innings, Moises Henriques played a crucial role in the first innings. The situation he walked in was not ideal as NSW kept losing wickets regularly. He, however, had a good support from Steven O’Keefe and Copeland which helped NSW post a challenging score on a slow and ageing pitch. Henriques scored a brilliant 140. Soon after, Josh Hazelwood did the bulk of damage to WA batting line-up as he claimed six wickets. This brightened NSW’s chances of clinching the title.

NSW all-rounder Henriques also expressed his views: “It’s very special, it’s not just about the final. We earned this home final and played the way we did, we dictated the whole game, we outplayed them every day of this fixture, so there’s no hollow feelings here. I can’t put it down in words to be completely honest, I’m still quite speechless and haven’t even had a beer touch my lips yet, so I’m very much looking forward to getting in the change rooms.”

The Warriors also tried their best as they gave plenty of overs to Agar. And Behrendorff who was effective in first innings didn’t find a way to stop Smith. They have been waiting for this for 15 years.  But Justin Langer said that these memories would certainly help them in next summer. “We’ve worked our guts out to get here, unfortunately it hasn’t been the five days we hoped for,” he said. “But we’ll use that to drive us, and make sure we’re back better next season.”

Brief Scores:

New South Wales 447 (Henriques 140, Smith 75, Carters 72, Behrendorff 4-95) and 4 for 197 (Smith 103, Patterson 52) drew with Western Australia 180 (Marsh 92, Hazlewood 6-50)