Shield dates open doors

AUSTRALIA’S domestic cricket season will start on September 16 and run until April, opening the door for Steve Smith and David Warner to make a Sheffield Shield final comeback.

Cricket Australia has released more dates for its upcoming “summer” that now spans more than six months.

The Shield final begins in 2019 on March 28, which is also the date Smith and Warner’s one-year bans over the Cape Town cheating scandal end.