Victoria cricket team

Victoria
Personnel
Captain Will Sutherland (FC)
Peter Handscomb (List A)
Coach Chris Rogers
Team information
Colours   Navy blue
  White
  Grey
Founded 1851
Home ground Melbourne Cricket Ground
Junction Oval
Capacity 100,000
7,000
History
First-class debut Tasmania
in 1851
at Launceston
Sheffield Shield wins 32 (1893, 1895, 1898, 1899, 1907, 1908, 1915, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1947, 1951, 1963, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1991, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019)
One-day wins 6 (1972, 1980, 1995, 1999, 2011, 2018)
Twenty20 Big Bash wins 4 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Official website Victorian Cricket Team
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First-class

One-day

The Victoria men’s cricket team is an Australian first-class men's cricket team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The men’s team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria in the Marsh Sheffield Shield first-class competition and the Marsh One Day Cup 50-over competition.

It was known as the Victorian Bushrangers between 1995 and 2018, before dropping the Bushrangers nickname and electing to be known as simply Victoria in all cricket competitions. Victoria shares home matches between the Melbourne Cricket Ground in East Melbourne and the Junction Oval in St Kilda. The team is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players primarily from Victoria's Premier Cricket competition along with players from throughout the country. Victoria also played in the now-defunct Twenty20 competition, the Twenty20 Big Bash, which was replaced by the franchise-based Big Bash League.

The Victorian cricket team is the second-most successful state team in Australian first-class cricket, having won 32 Sheffield Shield titles, the most recent of which was in the 2018–19 season. The Victorians have also claimed six One-Day Cups and four Big Bash tiles.

History

The team's origins date back to the very start of Australian cricket when the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) was formed in 1838, and in that same year an MCC team played its first match against the Victorian Military. However, the first official inter-colonial (now interstate) game was contested between Port Phillip and Van Diemen's Land in 1851, in Launceston.

Victoria was the dominant force in the early days of Australian first-class cricket, winning two of the first three Sheffield Shield tournaments, and most of its early domestic friendly games against the other states. The first game between the great rivals Victoria and New South Wales was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in 1856.

The annual Sheffield Shield tournament first began in the 1892/93 season, contested by Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. Victoria won that tournament by defeating both opponents twice each. During the history of the Shield, Victoria has won the competition 32 times, most recently in the 2018/19 season.

The Victorian Cricket Association, now Cricket Victoria, was founded in 1895 and since March 2018 has been based at its headquarters, the CitiPower Centre in St Kilda.

Victoria has featured a significant number of cricketing greats, such as Warwick Armstrong, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford, Neil Harvey, Hugh Trumble, Lindsay Hassett, Dean Jones, Jack Blackham, Jack Ryder, Bill Lawry, Bob Cowper, Shane Warne, Keith Miller and Ian Redpath. (See here for a full listing of past players).

Victoria has been a powerful force in Australian cricket and the Australian cricket team has, at least until recent decades, never been short of Victorians in the line up.

The tradition of starting a cricket match at the MCG on Boxing Day also featured Victoria when they played New South Wales in 1965.

Victoria is the only first-class cricket team to have scored over 1,000 in an innings, which it achieved twice in the 1920s – 1,023 against Tasmania in 1922–23, and 1,107 against New South Wales in 1926–27.

Identity

Throughout its history, Victoria's dominant colour has been navy blue, either in full when playing One-Day or Twenty20 competitions or on predominantly white kits in first-class cricket. The team logo replicates that of Cricket Victoria and has done so since the organisation chose to cease referring to the Bushrangers nickname when describing the men's team. The current major sponsor of the team is the CitiPower.

Honours

  • Sheffield Shield Titles – (32): 1892/93, 1894/95, 1897/98, 1898/99, 1900/01, 1907/08, 1914/15, 1921/22, 1923/24, 1924/25, 1927/28, 1929/30, 1930/31, 1933/34, 1934/35, 1936/37, 1946/47, 1950/51, 1962/63, 1966/67, 1969/70, 1973/74, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1990/91, 2003/04, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2018/19.
  • National One Day Cup Titles – (6): 1971/72, 1979/80, 1994/95, 1998/99, 2010/11, 2018/19.
  • KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Titles1 – (4): 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2009/10

1 Now defunct competition

Squad

Squad for the 2023/24 domestic season. Players with international caps are listed in bold.

No. Name Nat Birth date Batting style Bowling style Notes
Batters
23 Dylan Brasher 15 March 2001 Left-handed Rookie
22 Ashley Chandrasinghe 17 December 2001 Left-handed
29 Travis Dean 1 February 1992 Right-handed Right-arm medium
54 Peter Handscomb 26 April 1991 Right-handed Marsh Cup Captain
14 Marcus Harris 21 July 1992 Left-handed Right-arm off break Cricket Australia contract
37 Campbell Kellaway 11 January 2002 Left-handed
53 Nic Maddinson 21 December 1991 Left-handed Left-arm orthodox
10 Will Pucovski 2 February 1998 Right-handed
3 Tom Rogers 2 July 1999 Left-handed
2 Matthew Short 8 November 1995 Right-handed Right-arm off break
All-rounders
32 Glenn Maxwell 14 October 1988 Right-handed Right-arm off break Cricket Australia contract
11 Jonathan Merlo 15 December 1998 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast
17 Fergus O'Neill 27 January 2001 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium
12 Will Sutherland 27 October 1999 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Sheffield Shield Captain
Wicket-keepers
8 Liam Blackford 10 January 2004 Left-handed Rookie
7 Sam Harper 10 December 1996 Right-handed Right-arm medium
Spin Bowlers
28 Todd Murphy 15 November 2000 Left-handed Right-arm off break Cricket Australia contract
8 Wil Parker 29 May 2002 Right-handed Right-arm leg spin
9 Doug Warren 17 July 2001 Left-handed Left-arm orthodox Rookie
Pace Bowlers
25 Scott Boland 11 March 1989 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Cricket Australia contract
26 Xavier Crone 19 December 1997 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium
1 Sam Elliott 18 February 2000 Right-handed Right-arm medium
2 Matt Fotia 3 October 1994 Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium
13 Cameron McClure 25 September 2001 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium
14 Tom O'Donnell 23 October 1996 Right-handed Left-arm medium
35 Mitchell Perry 27 April 2000 Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium
64 Peter Siddle 25 November 1984 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium

Source:

Records

Jack Ryder scored 4613 runs at 50.14 for Victoria

First Class Batting Records for Victoria

Matches Player Runs Average
140 Brad Hodge 10474 45.34
110 Dean Jones 9622 54.05
103 Matthew Elliott 9470 52.32
105 David Hussey 7476 45.58
135 Cameron White 7453 36.17
85 Bill Lawry 6615 52.92
76 Graham Yallop 5881 46.07
58 Lindsay Hassett 5535 63.62
76 Jason Arnberger 5504 42.01
43 Bill Ponsford 5413 83.27
Victorian great Bill Ponsford
Warwick Armstrong scored 4497 runs for Victoria and took 177 wickets at 24.12

First Class Bowling Records for Victoria

Matches Player Wickets Average
86 Paul Reiffel 318 25.91
71 Alan Connolly 297 26.07
94 Tony Dodemaide 281 31.61
76 Merv Hughes 267 30.59
75* Scott Boland 253 26.60
101 Ray Bright 252 35.00
41 Chuck Fleetwood-Smith 246 24.52
75 Jim Higgs 240 29.88
61 Peter Siddle 233 24.13
67 Damien Fleming 221 30.20

List A Batting Records for Victoria

Matches Player Runs Average
139 Brad Hodge 5597 47.03
120 Cameron White 3643 37.55
101 David Hussey 3546 43.77
78 Matthew Elliott 2640 37.71
74 Rob Quiney 2361 36.89
62* Aaron Finch 2353 42.01
55 Dean Jones 2122 50.52
63* Peter Handscomb 1911 39.81
53 Matthew Wade 1696 37.68
84 Andrew McDonald 1589 31.15

List A Bowling Records for Victoria

Matches Player Wickets Average
54 Shane Harwood 88 23.72
62 Mick Lewis 83 28.53
69 Ian Harvey 81 27.40
48 John Hastings 78 29.11
84 Andrew McDonald 72 38.23
54* Jon Holland 68 33.44
120 Cameron White 57 39.01
39 Clint McKay 51 32.43
26* James Pattinson 50 24.46
46 Damien Fleming 48 33.00

See also