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Western Australia will play three of it's final four Sheffield Shield matches at home as part of the revised domestic schedule revealed on Wednesday.
Cricket Australia has reduced the number of matches played for all states to eight to condense the season, leaving Western Australia with four games to play to try and qualify for the Sheffield Shield final on April 15-19th.
Adam Voges' side will resume their season on February 25th against South Australia at the WACA Ground, before flying to Queensland to play at the Gabba on March 6th.
They then return home to finish with consecutive home fixtures against Victoria (March 25th) and Tasmania (April 3rd), avoiding reigning champions New South Wales and currently top placed side Queensland for a second time as part of the shortened fixture.
The Marsh One Day Cup will now just be five matches for each state side, WA's first match against South Australia at the WACA on March 2nd, before games against Queensland (away March 11), New South Wales (away March 14), Victoria (home 23rd March) and Tasmania (home April 8th) with the final scheduled for Sunday 11th April.
"Today's announcement safeguards the integrity of the Marsh Sheffield Shield and Marsh One-Day Cap competitions while managing the physical and mental wellbeing of players, officials and staff on account of the extraordinary demands placed upon them this season," said Drew Ginn, Cricket Australia's Executive General Manager High Performance.
"The lived experience of operating through the pandemic has provided us all with new appreciation and perspective for the increased workloads required to deliver elite, national sporting competitions.
"It is out of this duty of care that, with the input and support of the states and territories associations and the ACA, we have elected to shorten the Marsh Sheffield Shield and Marsh One-Day Cup, while ensuring both competitions are of a sufficient length to ensure a high-level of competition for teams and players."
The Sheffield Shield returns on February 17th with matches between New South Wales and Victoria at the SCG and Tasmania and Queensland at Blundstone Arena, while the Marsh One Day Cup begins next Monday with the Blues and Vics playing at North Sydney Oval.
IMAGE: Wisden.