Immediately after the Ashes, the Sheffield Shield became a pioneer in heralding first-class cricket championships and this match was also played between Australia and England. Bodyline cricket was introduced in Australian cricket in the 1920's when Don Bradman began his cricketing career but ever since, this form of game has been a continuous characteristic of Australian cricket. Australian cricket lacked success at the beginning of the 80's but soon gained impetus after strong captaincy by Allan Border. Continuous captaincy by a series of successful Australian captains once again took the team to the pinnacle of success and from the 90's to the present day, Australian cricket has held the top position on the ladder of international cricket.
The most glorious period in Australian cricket was ushered in the 21st century with Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting as successive captains who ruled the team with shrewdness and took the team to glorious wins in numerous matches. At the domestic level too Australian cricket is highly organized with scope for numerous championships in which local players can brush their talent and qualify for international cricket. Australian women's cricket has also met with continuous success in recent years and has been able to gain 5 titles in the World cups.
Australian cricket is administered by the Australian cricket board which in recent years has assumed the name of cricket Australia. The Australia cricket board started out as the Australasian cricket council in the March of 1892 but only in 1905 did the organization manage to gain an official status and transformed into the Australian board of control for international cricket. The body consisted of representatives from all the states of Australia. Finally in 1973, the board changed its name to the Australian Cricket board and once again an identity reversal took place in 2003 when Cricket Australia was adopted as the official name of the Australian cricket board. All championships that are played within the country at the domestic or the international level are administered by Cricket Australia.