Forget sleeping tablets or a warm cup of milk. Anyone needing to catch up on some sleep over the weekend should just have tuned into the Sheffield Shield final between Victoria and Queensland at the MCG.

From the moment Victoria recovered late on day one last Wednesday after a shocking start, this five-day clash turned into one of cricket's greatest snooze fests as the Bushrangers cruised to 457-run victory on Sunday.

A contest that really should have been one of the highlights of the domestic cricketing calendar had all the taste of a stale beer in the outer.

If states want to keep the "grand final" concept, then two things must change. It must be cut to four days, as all matches in the season-proper are. Four days would encourage a more attacking attitude. Five is simply too long. There is no need to turn this into a quasi-Test match just for the sake it.

The ridiculous rule that allows the host team to claim victory if the match ends in a draw must also be scrapped.

That Victoria was allowed to bat for almost 10 hours while amassing 8-591 in its second innings wasn't good for the sport. A quicker declaration was needed to open the game up. The Bushrangers knew simply by killing time they would force a draw - and win.

Fair enough the top team hosts the final - but that's the only advantage it should get.

That only five of 28 finals have been won by the visiting side indicates it's time for change.

If the four-day match ends in a draw, perhaps the shield goes to the team that led after first innings. As it stands, there is no advantage in leading on first innings in the final.

What really is needed is a way to encourage an exciting, outright result - and more fans to the ground.

Admittedly, Victoria achieved the former but it was done in a drawn-out manner.

Why not roll the dice and perhaps give each team a set number of overs to bat in each innings, say 100? This would almost certainly mean there would be enough time to chase down a fourth-innings target.

The shield final is already under threat, with Cricket Australia contemplating scrapping it and automatically handing the title to the team that finishes on top of the ladder.

This would give CA more room to extend its lucrative Twenty Big Bash tournament, which backpagelead.com.au has already discussed.

Fox Sports have enjoyed massive ratings broadcasting the Big Bash but its coverage over the weekend of the shield final perhaps summed up its thoughts - and future plans - for this form of the game.

Fox reduced the coverage to "viewer's choice" as it had the Test match between Australia and New Zealand on the same channel. That meant fans had to choose between matches using their remote control.

Few guesses then for what most would have been watching.

As for the MCG, it resembled more a ghost-town on Sunday. It should have been buzzing, for Victoria claimed back-to-back shields for the first time in 30 years and capped off a stunning summer where it also won the domestic Twenty20 title, played off in the limited overs final and reached the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Champions League in India.

The Bushrangers - and the shield itself - deserved greater attention.