Disappointed Vics to take lessons from 'disciplined' WA

Victoria felt like they had overachieved the past two seasons by making the Marsh Sheffield Shield final. It’s why this one hurt a lot more.

So much so it moved captain Will Sutherland to the verge of tears during his post-match interview following their season-ending 138-run loss to Western Australia on Wednesday.

It was the third straight season they'd been outplayed by WA when it mattered after falling short in the past two Shield finals.

So often Sutherland had been the lynchpin keeping Victoria in the contest. Last season he famously bowled through back stress fractures in the final to collect five first-innings wickets, before coming out and smashing an almost run-a-ball 83 to make WA bat again.

During that match he would hang from a chin up bar near the ceiling to help relieve the pain in his back to enable him to go out and bowl.

The previous year he had again taken five wickets in WA's first innings of the final, before a marathon unbeaten 174 by fellow emerging allrounder Aaron Hardie in the second ensured the hosts batted out a draw to secure their first Shield title in 23 years.

And again this season, against the same opposition, it was Victoria's bowlers that kept their hopes alive – fringe Test quick Scott Boland took four wickets in each WA innings, Fergus O'Neill claimed three in each innings and off-spinner Todd Murphy two in each innings.

That's despite O'Neill being ill for the past few weeks and Boland battling a sore knee.

Sutherland also fought through back pain for the second straight season, sending down 10 overs in the first innings and four in the second.

But the 24-year-old believed they could have chased the 269 to beat WA and secure a spot in this season's decider, they "just didn't bat well enough", bowled out for under 150 for the second time in the match.

"We've only got ourselves to blame in a few areas," he said.

"'Buck' (head coach Chris Rogers) always says we're on a journey, we're a young group and I guess there's elements of that still there.

"This one does hurt quite a bit. It almost hurts more than making the final and losing. Three years in a row (knocked out by WA), it's a bit frustrating."

Rogers knows he still has a young side – albeit with some very experienced players in former captain Peter Handscomb and fellow Test-capped Australians Marcus Harris, Nic Maddinson, Boland and at times Peter Siddle – and the goal now is strategic improvement to ensure they'll be contenting again come the end of next season.

"I think we overachieved the last couple of years in getting to where we did just because of the age profile of the side," he said.

"Not to say that we don't have the quality within the group, but we felt that this year, we've been tracking in the right direction, and we think we're getting better as a side.

"So that's probably why it hurts more this year."

Rogers acknowledged their young bowlers have had to "carry a lot" and pointed to the lessons their batters could take from their WA counterparts, who he said "played an unbelievably disciplined game".

"They gave nothing away. We had to work for every one of the of the 20 wickets we got," the former Test opener said.

"We'll look at some of our batting and (Liam) Haskett in particular, he had three wickets in the first innings all caught on the boundary.

"They're lessons that we need to learn and learn quickly because we've got talent within the group, but we don't want to be underachievers.

"We played some great cricket at times (this season) and if it had not have been for rain in Sydney, this game could have been very different. We would have been outright second and probably only needing a draw.

"So really close – ifs and buts – but it's probably telling us once again that there's room for improvement."

The biggest one of those areas, says Rogers, is listening to what the game is telling them so they can learn from the experience and the next time they're in a similar situation they give "five to 10 per cent better".

"We've been through a lot of technical change over the last few years and it's probably moving into times where it's around the game management, understanding those moments and knowing what to do when the heat is on," Rogers said.

"We're getting ourselves into good positions, it's what we do then that's important.

"There's moments in the game we're still trying to understand and work through.

"As we've seen over the season, when we play our best cricket, we're a very good side, but equally, there's a little bit of inconsistency there.

"It still talks to the fact they're a young group and they're developing individually and as a team as well, so there's still and lot of work to do.

"Some really good signs but I'm sure it will be a very disappointed changeroom."

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points