It has been an oft-quoted mantra in Australian cricket for 150 years. “If NSW cricket is strong, then Australian cricket is strong” as well as “NSW players get a baggy green cap when they get their first baggy blue cap, it just saves time later on”. For the past five or six years, NSW has provided the entire Test bowling line up as well as arguably its two best batsmen, and of course they have also been prevalent in the white ball teams as well. Now while this allows for the opportunity for players to come into the Shield team in their absence, there is still a lot of players who are changing states in order to get a chance at state level, and hoping to eventually push their cause for international selection. Given that this is the case, and has been for a very long time, has the time finally come to consider entering another team in the Sheffield Shield competition, as well as the domestic one day competition, in order to give more players exposure to that level of cricket without having to change states in order to find an opportunity?

On today’s episode we’ll discuss the pro’s and cons of such a situation, and whether or not this could fit into Australia’s already overcrowded domestic schedule, and of course whether it would be a benefit to Australian cricket or just a pie in the sky idea. That’s today’s discussion on The Casual Mankadder, the cricket podcast in a podcast of the podcast that is still podcasting along, Thoughts from the Metal Cavern.