Western Australia played their opening
first-class matches on a tour of the
Eastern states during the 1892–93 season, playing two games, against
South Australia at the
Adelaide Oval, and against
Victoria at the
MCG. The team was captained by
Herbert Orr. They continued to play first-class matches against South Australia, Victoria and
New South Wales, interspersed with matches against visiting teams from overseas, until they were admitted to the
Sheffield Shield for the 1947–48 season. They played each other state only once a season at first, then beginning in 1956–57 they began playing each state twice, like the other teams. Since joining the Sheffield Shield in 1947–48, Western Australia has won the competition 16 times, second only to
New South Wales in that period. In the
One-Day Cup, the team leads the winners table comfortably with 17 wins followed by New South Wales with twelve wins. The state has a history of producing Australian Test players such as
Justin Langer,
Dennis Lillee,
Adam Gilchrist,
Michael Hussey,
Terry Alderman and
Geoff Marsh, along with
Shaun Marsh,
Marcus North,
Adam Voges, and
Mitchell Marsh in recent times. Englishman Tony Lock also represented his country in the 1967–68 season as a WA player – he was no longer attached to any English county. Aside from test players, several Western Australian players have recently made their international debut in other forms of the game, such as
Joel Paris with his
One Day International debut, and
Andrew Tye with his debut in international
Twenty20 cricket. Langer was appointed as coach of WA, along with the
Perth Scorchers, in late 2012 and oversaw a period of success after almost a decade without silverware. Langer's Warriors won the 2014–15
One-Day Cup, while the side were
Sheffield Shield runners-up in both 2013–14 and 2014–15. The Scorchers also went back-to-back in the
Big Bash League in 2013–14 and 2014–15 along with a further title 2016–17. Following Langer’s appointment as Australian coach in 2018, recently retired captain and former test batsmen
Adam Voges was selected as the Warriors new coach. Under Voges watch, WA won the 2019-20 One-Day Cup, but its struggles in ending its Sheffield Shield drought continued. They still produced more International players during this time, but mainly in limited overs cricket, with
Jhye Richardson and
Cameron Green both making test debuts in recent years. The summer of 2021–22 became a highly successful summer for WA, winning another One-Day Cup (its second in three years with a win over
New South Wales and fourth in a decade), while the Scorchers also took home its fourth BBL title, both being achieved despite being on the road for several weeks due to
COVID-19 restrictions preventing both teams to play at home despite finishing first in both competitions. The Sheffield Shield, the one title that eluded WA for 23 years, was ended in a home draw against
Victoria but won on first innings bonus points.
Shaun Marsh captained the team to victory 21 years after his first-class debut. == Honours ==