Vics preview: Spots up for grabs and the Maxwell conundrum

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After losing back-to-back Sheffield Shield finals in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to Western Australia, Victoria once again had a season ended by a side that has become their biggest nemesis. 

This time, in March earlier this year, it came on their home turf at the Junction Oval as the eventual Shield champions grinded Victoria down to secure top spot on the standings and relegate Will Sutherland’s men to third.

Coach Chris Rogers labels WA's discipline in that 138-run defeat as an "eye-opener" for his Vics, who continue to be one of the competition's strongest outfits but continue to be also-rans.

"What I'm probably looking forward to, and the other coaches are looking forward to, is us understanding how to play as a team better, rather than kind of relying on individual performances," Rogers told cricket.com.au. "That sounds a bit obvious but that can be the challenge for a young side."

Victoria might have not a choice.

Their star batter from the previous few seasons, Nic Maddinson, has returned to his home state of NSW while prodigy Will Pucovski appears unlikely to feature this summer despite official confirmation of his exit from cricket yet to be forthcoming.

They will also begin their campaign without their best bowler, Scott Boland, whose recovery from a plantar fascia injury has taken longer than initially expected. He will miss the first two One-Day Cup games as well as their first Sheffield Shield outing.

Shield skipper Sutherland (back stress fracture) will also be carefully managed in the early stages of the season.

That’s the bad news. The good? One-day captain, Peter Handscomb, enters the season in some of the best touch of his career. The 20-Test batter is fresh off leading the UK's county 50-over competition's run-scoring charts with 539 at 67.37 for Leicestershire. He was equally dominant against the red ball, amassing 894 runs at 74.50 in Division Two.

Senior men Marcus Harris and Peter Siddle also spent time in England over the winter, while the ever-eager Fergus O'Neill and wise spinner Todd Murphy will be go-to men with the ball.

A wildcard for their Shield prospects will be the potential availability of Glenn Maxwell, who is desperate to prove his long-form capabilities ahead of next year's tour of Sri Lanka.

Whether Victoria can claim their first silverware since 2018-19 may then depend on how their next rung of talent fares.

Josh Brown has been recruited from Queensland to cover for the anticipated longer absences of Australia white-ball prospect Matt Short. The 30-year-old will bolster their limited-overs firepower, which has been a focus in the pre-season for Victoria, whose two Big Bash sides have abysmal recent records.

Ashley Chandrasinghe is expected to get a shot at resuming the four-day opening berth he showed promising signs in two summers ago. The dogged leftie carried his bat in the 22-23 Shield final but has not played since and has worked on developing more scoring options. 

Big seasons for the likes of Sam Harper, Mitch Perry and Campbell Kellaway, who have all now had considerable first-class experience, could be the silver bullet for the hungry Vics.

Victoria men’s 2024-25 squad: Liam Blackford, Scott Boland*, Dylan Brasher, Josh Brown, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Xavier Crone, Sam Elliott, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Glenn Maxwell*, Cameron McClure, Jono Merlo, Todd Murphy*, Fergus O’Neill, Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski**, Tom Rogers, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Douglas Warren. Rookies: Austin Anlezark, Harry Dixon, Jai Lemire, Reiley Mark, Tyler Pearson

Ins: Josh Brown (Queensland). Liam Blackford, Dylan Brasher, Douglas Warren (upgraded from rookie contracts)

Outs: Travis Dean (delisted), Matt Fotia (delisted), Nic Maddinson (NSW), Tom O'Donnell (retired), Wil Parker (retired)

* Denotes Cricket Australia contract

** Pending medical advice

Possible XIs

Potential XI for one-day cup opener (against Tasmania on Sep 23): Josh Brown, Tom Rogers, Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb (c), Sam Harper (wk), Jono Merlo, Will Sutherland, Sam Elliott, Fergus O'Neill, Todd Murphy, Peter Siddle

Sheffield Shield (at full strength): Marcus Harris, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Peter Handscomb, Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell, Sam Harper (wk), Will Sutherland (c), Mitch Perry, Fergus O'Neill, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland

Last season

Sheffield Shield: Fourth

Marsh One-Day Cup: Third

The inside word with head coach Chris Rogers

The pre-season

"Typically in Melbourne the weather forces you to be indoors a lot. We were lucky to get up to Darwin (sending Stars and Renegades teams) to play in the T20 comp up there, so there's been a bit of a T20 focus with the way the game's going and the younger players aspiring to play in the BBL. But in general we've gone through a lengthy transition period with a lot of young players who are now starting to reach their mid-20s and as a collective they're understanding how much they want to accomplish as a team. So a lot of the conversations and the direction the players want to take is really maturing and I'm looking forward to seeing where they take it."

Availability of Boland and Maxwell

"Scotty is still working through his recovery. We'll be keenly observing that and clearly he's our No.1 bowler, so we'll be looking to play him when we can but making sure we're looking after him knowing that he still has that dream to play more Test cricket. Then Glenn is an interesting one – we'll play it a little bit by ear with what he wants to do and how that fits into our program. He's still got a lot on with his Australian (limited-overs) commitments, but there might be some opportunities where he'll be available for us and we'll definitely be looking into those. It’s just fantastic having him around the group imparting his knowledge."

Areas for improvement

"We had good conversations at the end of last year and the beginning of this pre-season about listening to what the game was telling us. We were probably making mistakes at the wrong time. When we played Western Australia here at the Junction Oval, one of the things that stood out was just how difficult they made it for us. They didn't do anything particularly magical, they were just very disciplined and wore us down. That was an eye-opener to where we are as a group. Because we think, talent-wise, we're quite good but being disciplined for longer to stay in games and putting pressure back on the opposition is something we're targeting."

Players to watch

"I think the real growth in our side will be the players who are already established but will be going through the next stages in their careers. We've had a lot of players who are going through a journey in terms of how to be professionals and understanding how to win, and how to feel part of a team. We've got a number of guys who are probably at that latter stage who we're really hopeful are going to take the next step – the likes of Will Sutherland, Fergus O'Neill, Mitch Perry, Sam Harper – these kind of guys."

Young guns

"There's a lot to name. I'm really looking forward to seeing Ash Chandrasinghe – he's gone through a great little journey in his own batting from that Shield final and knowing that he'll need to find some more in his game if he ever is to play for Australia, and has gone on a significant part of that journey. I'm looking forward to seeing the new version of him. He'll probably have a big role to play for us. Campbell Kellaway is a similar one. He's someone we've always had high hopes for as soon as he came into our system. He actually showed some good consistency last year, which is almost the biggest battle for a young player – then it's going on to make big scores, which we know he's capable of.

"In the bowling, (Xavier) Crone, (Cameron) McClure, (Sam) Elliot – they're the ones we're hoping now can step up and really start to have almost a little contest between themselves trying to unseat the bowlers already in the side."

Rationale behind the Josh Brown recruitment

"First and foremost, he's an extremely talented player. You don't do what he's done without having the foundations to play high-level cricket. He has aspirations not just in the T20 game and we felt Matt Short might be someone who hopefully pushes up to play higher level cricket and there could be a role for him (Brown), particularly in one-day cricket. It was probably a bit of a luxury - we didn't have 20 contracted players and we felt like he could play a good role for us at the top in one-day cricket."

Team to beat

"Do I have to say WA? It's going to be WA for a bit to come because they do so much right. I actually think NSW will be improved. Tasmania played out of their skins last year and South Australia is another interesting one – they've got the foundations of a good side and have recruited well. I've probably named everyone! But everyone on their day is going to be hard to beat."