Silver lining for Vics as youthful gold emerges

Victoria's disrupted Marsh Sheffield Shield season has revealed a silver lining, with the rapid improvement shown by the state's young stars in their win against a star-studded NSW Blues side this week.

The state was buoyed by the performances of 20-year-old fast bowler Mitch Perry and 18-year-old batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk in Victoria's four-wicket win at the SCG.

Perry, who was a late selection nod, was lauded for his opening day effort in taking 3-25, including the prized scalp of Test batsman Steve Smith, while Fraser-McGurk's unbeaten 38 in the fourth innings steered Victoria home in a tense run chase.

"We've got a few boys who grew up watching these guys," said Victoria captain Peter Handscomb.

"For them to get the chance to play against them is one thing, and then to walk away with the win is even better.

"It was a hell of an effort."

Handscomb was quick to heap praise on the pair of talented youngsters, who were both playing just their third first-class games.

"We had a couple of things for (Perry) from his first two (Shield games) where he was a bit 'pretty', maybe bowled too wide, didn't make the batters play enough," he explained.

"For him to turn that around so quickly and ask questions of some of the best batters in the world was just awesome.

"He's come along in leaps and bounds in just a couple of months, and I'm pretty excited to see what's he going to do for the rest of the season."

Perry only got the nod for the match just before the coin toss on Wednesday morning with the state considering two spinners, and admitted to "shock" when he had Smith caught behind on seven on the first morning.

"I was very nervous, he's the best better in the world. You have to be on your game from ball one and if you miss he's going to punish you, as we saw in the one-dayer where he got a hundred," Perry said.

"I was just trying to bowl the best balls I could and lucky enough he nicked one.

"He doesn't nick many, so for him to do that, I was shocked.

"You watch him on TV smashing international attacks, so to get that opportunity to bowl to someone like him, it's very good for you – you find out quickly where you're at and how far you are from international cricket.

"I'm a long way from that, but it was good to bowl to him for a couple of overs and just see where I'm at."

Handscomb was also full of praise for the "pretty calm head" displayed by Fraser-McGurk, who blunted three of Australia's Test bowling attack in Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc in a match-winning innings on the third afternoon.

"Maybe it helped that he was young and didn't have any demons or anything," Handscomb added. "He just went out there and batted the way he batted."

The Victorians will get an immediate chance to double down on their efforts against the star-studded NSW outfit when both sides meet again next Thursday at Bankstown in a match rescheduled from the MCG due to state border closures.

"We were quite lucky to play this game with everything that was going on with COVID," Handscomb said.

"We're all quite aware there are going to be mini outbreaks and that is going to force border closures and what-not, so to be able to still have this competition running is a great credit to everyone who was involved in making sure the season can continue.

"We love playing at home, we know our conditions pretty well, and in a year where we've spent a fair bit of time away from home, it would have been nice to go back.

"But to keep the competition going and to make sure that everyone can keep the schedule as planned, we're pretty happy to stay up here.

"We've got a couple of days off now in Bondi so that's not the worst spot in the world either."