Victoria cricket team

The Victoria cricket team is an Australian first-class men's cricket team based in the Australian state of 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 initially 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 2024/25 domestic season. Players with international caps are listed in bold. No.NameNationalityBirth dateBatting styleBowling styleNotes Batters20 Dylan Brasher Left-handed 23Josh Brown Right-handed Right-arm off break 22Ashley Chandrasinghe Left-handed –Harry Dixon Left-handed Right-arm off break 54Peter Handscomb Right-handed Marsh Cup captain14Marcus Harris Left-handed Right-arm off break37 Campbell Kellaway Left-handed 10Will Pucovski Right-handed 3Tom Rogers Left-handed 2Matthew Short Right-handed Right-arm off breakCricket Australia contract All-rounders32Glenn Maxwell Right-handed Right-arm off breakCricket Australia contract11Jonathan Merlo Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 12Will Sutherland Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Sheffield Shield captain Wicket-keepers8 Liam Blackford Left-handed 7Sam Harper Right-handed Right-arm medium8 Jai Lemire Right-handed Spin bowlers9 Reiley Mark Right-handed Right-arm leg break 28Todd Murphy Left-handed Right-arm off breakCricket Australia contract9Doug Warren Left-handed Left-arm orthodox Pace bowlers– Austin Anlezark Left-handed Right-arm medium 25Scott Boland Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Cricket Australia contract26 Xavier Crone Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 1 Sam Elliott Right-handed Right-arm medium – Harry Hoekstra Right-handed Left-arm medium 13 Cameron McClure Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 17Fergus O'Neill Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 35 Tyler Pearson Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast 35 Mitchell Perry Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium 64 Peter Siddle Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Source:

Records

First Class Batting Records for Victoria Matches Player RunsAverage140Brad Hodge1047445.34110Dean Jones962254.05103Matthew Elliott947052.32105David Hussey747645.58135Cameron White745336.1785Bill Lawry661552.9276Graham Yallop588146.0758Lindsay Hassett553563.6276Jason Arnberger550442.0143Bill Ponsford541383.27

First Class Bowling Records for Victoria Matches Player WicketsAverage86Paul Reiffel31825.9171Alan Connolly29726.0794Tony Dodemaide28131.6176Merv Hughes26730.5975*Scott Boland25326.60101Ray Bright25235.0041Chuck Fleetwood-Smith24624.5275Jim Higgs24029.8861Peter Siddle23324.1367Damien Fleming22130.20 List A Batting Records for Victoria +MatchesPlayerRunsAverage139Brad Hodge559747.03120Cameron White364337.55101David Hussey354643.7778Matthew Elliott264037.7174Rob Quiney236136.8962*Aaron Finch235342.0155Dean Jones212250.5263*Peter Handscomb191139.8153Matthew Wade169637.6884Andrew McDonald158931.15 List A Bowling Records for Victoria +MatchesPlayerWicketsAverage54Shane Harwood8823.7262Mick Lewis8328.5369Ian Harvey8127.4048John Hastings7829.1184Andrew McDonald7238.2354*Jon Holland6833.44120Cameron White5739.0139Clint McKay5132.4326*James Pattinson5024.4646Damien Fleming4833.00

Victoria cricket team

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