Cricket Victoria boss optimistic about the Test potential in Bushrangers ranks, despite an absence of Victorians in Australia's Sri Lanka Test squad
Absent Vics "stings a bit": Dodemaide
The absence of any Victorian in Australia’s Test squad to tour Sri Lanka “stings a bit”, however Cricket Victoria chief executive Tony Dodemaide stresses his state is well-represented in other national squads.
Fast bowlers James Pattinson and Peter Siddle are both sidelined due to back stress fractures and will miss the three-Test tour of the island nation, while young quick Scott Boland and allrounder Glenn Maxwell were overlooked for places in the 15-man squad in favour of Western Australia speedster Nathan Coulter-Nile and New South Wales allrounder Moises Henriques.
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Victoria have won back-to-back Sheffield Shield titles, but success in the first-class competition hasn’t translated to a wealth of Bushrangers wearing Baggy Greens, with Pattinson and Siddle the state’s only Test representatives since Maxwell played against Pakistan in the UAE in late 2014.
"I guess it always stings a bit when you see a Test or any sort of Australian squad without any Victorian representative, but we know we’ve got strong performers in other forms of the game,” Dodemaide told cricket.com.au on Tuesday.
"From our point of view, the two guys we’d expect to be consistently selected for Australia in Pattinson and Siddle are having lay-offs with injury.
"The players we have in the mix for Australian selection at the moment are short-form players."
Dodemaide said Cricket Victoria were continually in discussions with the National Selection Panel, but injuries and other factors including conditions were outside their control.
"Our state talent managers have regular dialogues with national selectors and there are detailed conversations that go on so we know where players at and what they need to keep working on.
"But at the end of day there are no guarantees, because it’s a competitive environment.
"We can do all can, but if someone happens to be doing it better from another state or the conditions seem to favour one style of play over another, then that’s the go."
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However, Dodemaide is optimistic there are plenty of future Baggy Green wearers in the Bushrangers’ ranks.
Five Bushrangers have been named in the Australia A squad to play in the winter quadrangular series in north Queensland – including quicks Boland and Chris Tremain, batsmen Travis Dean and Peter Handscomb and allrounder Marcus Stoinis.
"We have a number of selections in the Australia A squad and that’s really where our focus is," he said.
"It’s about building up our depth and putting forward potential players in departments including Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Travis Dean has also emerged as a terrific candidate for the future.”
There are also four Victorians in Australia’s ODI squad for next month’s Caribbean Tri Series, but Dodemaide nonetheless wants to see Bushrangers in all forms of the game – and not just fast bowlers.
"We’re certainly of a mind that we want to have a consistent presence in Australian colours and in all departments, not just bowling but also batting and wicketkeeping. We don’t believe Matthew Wade is done at Test level. So we’re concentrating on that.”
Boland was included in Australia’s Test squad for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests against West Indies last summer - replacing Coulter-Nile who dislocated his shoulder playing in the KFC Big Bash League – and Dodemaide believes the 27-year-old can have a big future in the Baggy Green.
"We always want to see our boys up there but it’s just a call selectors make,” he said.
"He’s getting a lot of experience in the shorter forms of the game but we do believe he is a future option in the longer form of the game as well."
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The likelihood of Australia playing two specialist spinners in Sri Lanka meant selectors looked to seam-bowling allrounders Mitch Marsh and Henriques, with Maxwell missing out.
"Maxwell’s top and middle-order batting is the thing that’s won out for him (with selection) before, but for this particular tour they’ve decided to go for more players in the seam bowling department.
"But Glenn believes he can play a lot more in the Baggy Green and we also believe he has a future at that level.
"He’d be working to develop his batting to be a very credible option in all conditions and we’ll be encouraging him to do that."