Cricket News: A rain-affected draw with NSW means Queensland will host the Sheffield Shield final

Spinner Mitch Swepson averaged just under eight wickets a game in the Sheffield Shield this season and will go head-to-head with Nathan Lyon in the final.

A storm in Wollongong forced a Sheffield Shield draw between NSW and Queensland (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Queensland will play NSW in the Sheffield Shield final at Allan Border Field in Brisbane next week after rain forced a draw in the top of the table clash between the two teams Wollongong.

Test spinner Nathan Lyon will take the title of the season’s leading wicket taker in to next week’s showdown after taking 39 scalps in his first ever full season of Shield cricket, including six against the Bulls.

Queensland spinner Mitch Swepson laid down a marker of his own with six wickets in his first game back since suffering a stress fracture in his neck which threatened to end his campaign.

With a reworked action to cater for his injury Swepson, who spent the summer in the Test squad and was picked for the abandoned tour of South Africa, finished the regular season fourth on the wicket-taking list with 29 despite only playing four matches.

Australia won’t play another Test until next November, and Swepson said he was ready to step up.

“I feel like I am in a place where I would be ready. But you never really know ... you’ve just got to go out and experience it. in my own head I feel like I would be right to go,” he said.

“This season I have been thrown the ball a lot more than previous years. To be given that opportunity to just bowl and try and win games for my team has been great for my development.”

How about this ripping delivery from Mitchell Swepson yesterday! 🤯#SheffieldShieldpic.twitter.com/nemIsE05YL

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) April 5, 2021

With both he and Lyon the leading wicket takers for their respective teams this season, the pair loom as key men when their two teams faced off again next week.

But it could all come down to conditions and Swepson hopes that the “variety” he has seen more this season in pitches is on offer again.

“Variety is great. You don’t want to pick up in different parts of Australia and get the same thing,” he said on Tuesday.

“It’s something we could do a little bit more of. I bowled in to footmarks (in Wollongong) which is something I wouldn’t get at the Gabba or the WACA.

“It’s great when you get that variety, you can get your spinners involved, batters playing against spin and having to come up with plans. It’s good for the game, not just for us spinners.”

Swepson said his teammates were “up and about” after locking in another chance to win a Shield title. who

“Locking in a Shield final spot is a great feeling and the guys are pretty up and about,” he said.

“It’s a good place to be.”