Pura Cup

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The Pura Cup (formerly known as the Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first class cricket competition in Australia. Each of the six state teams play in a round-robin series of home and away 4-day matches against every other team. Teams are awarded points based on the results of the match, and after each pair of teams have played each other twice, the two highest ranked teams play a 5-day final. A separate limited overs competition known as the Ford Ranger Cup runs concurrently.

1 History
2 Sponsorship and name change
3 Teams
4 Points system
5 Winners table
6 Highlights
7 See also
8 External links
9 References

[edit] History

In 1891-92 the Earl of Sheffield was in Australia as the promoter of the English team led by W. G. Grace. The tour included three Tests played in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

At the conclusion of the tour, Sheffield donated £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association to fund a trophy for an annual tournament of intercolonial cricket in Australia. The three colonies of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia were already regularly playing ad-hoc matches which were very popular.

The new tournament commenced in the summer of 1892 with the three colonies playing for a silver shield named after its benefactor.

[edit] Sponsorship and name change

In 1999, the Australian Cricket Board (now Cricket Australia) announced a 4 year sponsorship deal which included renaming the Sheffield Shield to the Pura Milk Cup, then to the Pura Cup the following season. Pura is a brand name of National Foods a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippines based San Miguel Corporation.

Although the competition had been running with losses of several million dollars per annum, cricket traditionalists protested strongly, arguing against the encroaching wave of commercialism damaging the competition that had been running for over 100 years. Many cricket lovers still refer to the competition as the "Shield" either as force of habit, or as a subtle protest.

The sponsorship increased total annual prize money to A$220,000, with the winners receiving A$75,000 and the runners up A$45,000.

See: Cricinfo article

[edit] Teams

State	Nickname	Corporate name	Home ground	Entered competition	Wins
New South Wales	Blues	SpeedBlitz Blues	Sydney Cricket Ground	1892-93	44
Victoria	Bushrangers	Victorian Bushrangers	Melbourne Cricket Ground	1892-93	26
Western Australia	Warriors	Retravision Warriors	The WACA, Perth	1947-48	15
South Australia	Redbacks	West End Redbacks	Adelaide Oval	1892-93	13
Queensland	Bulls	XXXX Gold Queensland Bulls	The Gabba, Brisbane	1926-27	6
Tasmania	Tigers	Cascade Tasmanian Tigers	Bellerive Oval, Hobart	1982-83	1

Wins up to and including 2006-07 season.

Home grounds are the main venues used for home games by each team; other venues in the home state of each team are also regularly used.

[edit] Points system

A number of different systems have been used over the years. Currently, points are awarded for each match during the home and away season, with the top two teams playing in the final. The team with the most points hosts the final on their home ground and only needs to draw that match to win the title.

Category	What it means	Points
First innings points	The team that scores the most runs in their first innings, whether they bat first or second	2 - retained even if beaten outright
Outright win	The team that wins the match, whether they win, lose or tie the first innings	6 - maximum points
Tied match	If both teams finish on equal runs after completing two innings each	3 - irrespective of first innings result
Tied innings	Equal runs on first innings and no outright result	1 each
Outright loss	Team who loses the match after a tie in the first innings	1
First innings loss	Team with the least amount of runs in the first innings	0
Outright loss	Team who loses the match after losing in the first innings	0
Abandoned/Draw	Abandoned or drawn match with no first innings result	0

[edit] Winners table

Prior to the introduction of a Final in 1982/83, the team with most points after the home and away rounds was declared the winner.

Season	Winner	Runner-up
1892-93	Victoria
1893-94	South Australia
1894-95	Victoria
1895-96	New South Wales
1896-97	New South Wales
1897-98	Victoria
1898-99	Victoria
1899-00	New South Wales
1900-01	Victoria
1901-02	New South Wales
1902-03	New South Wales
1903-04	New South Wales
1904-05	New South Wales
1905-06	New South Wales
1906-07	New South Wales
1907-08	Victoria
1908-09	New South Wales
1909-10	South Australia
1910-11	New South Wales
1911-12	New South Wales
1912-13	South Australia
1913-14	New South Wales
1914-15	Victoria
1915-19	(not contested due to World War I)
1919-20	New South Wales
1920-21	New South Wales
1921-22	Victoria
1922-23	New South Wales
1923-24	Victoria
1924-25	Victoria
1925-26	New South Wales
1926-27	South Australia
1927-28	Victoria
1928-29	New South Wales
1929-30	Victoria
1930-31	Victoria
1931-32	New South Wales
1932-33	New South Wales
1933-34	Victoria
1934-35	Victoria
1935-36	South Australia
1936-37	Victoria
1937-38	New South Wales
1938-39	South Australia
1939-40	New South Wales
1940-46	(not contested due to World War II)
1946-47	Victoria
1947-48	Western Australia
1948-49	New South Wales
1949-50	New South Wales
1950-51	Victoria
1951-52	New South Wales
1952-53	South Australia
1953-54	New South Wales
1954-55	New South Wales
1955-56	New South Wales
1956-57	New South Wales
1957-58	New South Wales
1958-59	New South Wales
1959-60	New South Wales
1960-61	New South Wales
1961-62	New South Wales
1962-63	Victoria
1963-64	South Australia
1964-65	New South Wales
1965-66	New South Wales
1966-67	Victoria
1967-68	Western Australia
1968-69	South Australia
1969-70	Victoria
1970-71	South Australia
1971-72	Western Australia
1972-73	Western Australia
1973-74	Victoria
1974-75	Western Australia
1975-76	South Australia
1976-77	Western Australia
1977-78	Western Australia
1978-79	Victoria
1979-80	Victoria
1980-81	Western Australia
1981-82	South Australia
1982-83	New South Wales	Western Australia
1983-84	Western Australia	Queensland
1984-85	New South Wales	Queensland
1985-86	New South Wales	Queensland
1986-87	Western Australia	Victoria
1987-88	Western Australia	Queensland
1988-89	Western Australia	South Australia
1989-90	New South Wales	Queensland
1990-91	Victoria	New South Wales
1991-92	Western Australia	New South Wales
1992-93	New South Wales	Queensland
1993-94	New South Wales	Tasmania
1994-95	Queensland	South Australia
1995-96	South Australia	Western Australia
1996-97	Queensland	Western Australia
1997-98	Western Australia	Tasmania
1998-99	Western Australia	Queensland
1999-00	Queensland	Victoria
2000-01	Queensland	Victoria
2001-02	Queensland	Tasmania
2002-03	New South Wales	Queensland
2003-04	Victoria	Queensland
2004-05	New South Wales	Queensland
2005-06	Queensland	Victoria
2006-07	Tasmania	New South Wales

[edit] Highlights

1892/93 - Competition commences by formalising the Intercolonial matches regularly played between Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales
1982/83 - Final introduced. Tasmania finally entered the competition after many years of exclusion on the grounds that the contest was between the mainland states only.