Victoria preview: New skipper as Vics seek consistency

Having fallen short at the final hurdle the past two seasons, but with a young group that's bound to keep improving, Victoria are optimistic they can go one step further in 2023-24.

Head coach Chris Rogers said last summer he believed his side was "a couple years away from being at the peak of its powers", so could this be the season they knock Western Australia off their perch?

With the addition of Peter Siddle's wisdom and experience alongside Test paceman Scott Boland, and with off-spinner Todd Murphy having had a taste of international cricket, Victoria's bowling attack looks as formidable as any in the country.

Nic Maddinson is expected to miss the first half of the season as he continues his recovery from an ACL injury to his left knee and the focus for Rogers and his coaching panel this preseason has been educating his young players on ensuring they're playing "consistently good cricket".

"We showed a times last year when we played well that we're very good side," Rogers said. "It's trying to do that more often, that's the challenge. 

"It's having a lot of good contributors in the team and not relying on a select few to get us into strong positions and it's having all players contribute at different stages. And for that, it takes development really, so we're pleased with the direction we're going."

New red-ball captain Will Sutherland will be eager to continue his winning streak after being undefeated in four Marsh Sheffield Shield games to close last summer when he stepped in for Peter Handscomb following his elevation to the Test side in India.

Victoria 2023-24 men's squad: Scott Boland*, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Xavier Crone, Travis Dean, Sam Elliott, Matt Fotia, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris*, Campbell Kellaway, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell*, Cameron McClure, Jono Merlo, Todd Murphy*, Tom O'Donnell, Fergus O'Neill, Wil Parker, Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Tom Rogers, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland. Rookies: Liam Blackford, Dylan Brasher, Douglas Warren

* Cricket Australia contract

Ins: Peter Siddle (Tasmania), Matt Fotia, Tom O'Donnell, Tom Rogers, Liam Blackford, Dylan Brasher, Douglas Warren

Outs: Aaron Finch (retired), Jake Fraser-McGurk (South Australia), Brody Couch (delisted), Zak Evans (delisted), Mackenzie Harvey (delisted), Jon Holland (delisted), Tom O'Connell (delisted)

Possible best XIs

Sheffield Shield: Marcus Harris, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matt Short, Will Sutherland, Sam Harper (wk), Fergus O'Neill, Mitch Perry, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland

Marsh One-Day Cup: Matt Short, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Campbell Kellaway, Will Sutherland, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Scott Boland, Cameron McClure

Last season

Sheffield Shield: 2nd

Marsh One-Day Cup: 3rd

The inside word with head coach Chris Rogers

The pre-season

"(The focus) is still education, it's about trying to continue their understanding of how we want to play the game so they can develop their skills and when the opportunity comes, they know the role they need to play. We had three days under blue skies playing games (against NSW at Cricket Central) and we got a lot out of it. The more opportunities that we can expose a lot of our younger guys to high-class cricket the better and NSW had some excellent players playing. We had a number of our senior players we just wanted to give some opportunity for some time in the middle and find some form and we were pretty happy with what we got there."

Availability of Scott Boland, Todd Murphy and Marcus Harris?

"I think we'll see a bit of them, they're not involved in white-ball cricket (for Australia). Scotty's loads will be managed a little bit like what's happened with him over the last couple of years so he's ready to go for the Test summer. But it means he will be playing cricket for us at times and that's always great for Victoria. With 'Murph' and Marcus, they're both pushing hard to get into that side so they'll be doing everything they can to perform well which is exciting."

Areas for improvement

"We're still trying to find our best version with our one-day side. In the Shield we have a bit more of a settled team and in white-ball we're still trying to develop that. But from (the side) we had last week in Sydney (for three practice matches), we've still got Marcus Harris, Matt Short, Todd Murphy and even Pete Handscomb only played one game, so we've got some players with a lot more experience to come back in."

Young guns

"From our point of view, it's a continual development of the ones that we've been exposing over the last couple of years. We're excited about our rookies – Dylan Brasher, Dougie Warren and Liam Blackford. Liam had a bit of a challenge recently, he had to have surgery last week, but that went well, and he'll be back in a couple of months.

"We'd like to see the development in our young bowling group with the likes of Sam Elliott, Cam McClure and Fergus O'Neill, and then Campbell Kellaway and Ash Chandrasinghe continue to improve as well. So it's going to be a challenge for all of those players because the competition for spots in the side is getting tougher as we build a stronger squad."

Talking points

New Shield captain Will Sutherland

"We saw enough from him last year in the games that he did captain that he enjoys that role and it didn't overwhelm him. He's a young man who has done a lot of growing up in the last couple of years. He's definitely someone who is aspiring to be that leader because he wants to drive the behaviours, the values, the standards and he never asks someone to do something that he doesn't do. He's the kind of young leader you want so that every young player who comes into the doors sees the standard that takes to become a Victorian cricketer. So I think he's going to set standards that are going to drive Victorian cricket for a long while to come on and off the field.

"We're still conscious of the pressure and the loads were putting on him being an allrounder as well so that was why we decided it's a co-captaincy because we still highly value (one-day captain) Pete Handscomb's leadership. We thought it's a good mix and Will's also coming off a stress fracture so we're going to have to be aware of how much bowling he does throughout the season."

Peter Siddle's return

"He brings that experienced and wealth of knowledge and with a young group that were trying to develop and educate, he's going to be a part of that process. He's not going to play every game and that wasn't really the purpose of bringing him back, it was to help develop a lot of the young talent who are on that journey. Certainly, he's loving that challenge and he's very excited about how he can give back and help our group and at times play some good cricket for us as well."

How's Will Pucovski tracking?

"He's just come off a season in the UK and from all reports, and in particular from him, it was very successful. He had a brilliant time and enjoyed being out in the middle playing cricket. So he's come back with an extremely positive attitude about what he might accomplish this year and for us that means he's playing, and whenever he's playing, we think we're a better side. So if he can continue the way he's going then that's a huge bonus for us."

Spin depth behind Todd Murphy?

"In Doug Warren we've got a young left-arm spinner who's a rookie that will take a while to develop but he's got all the attributes we think are going to make him very good. We've got Ruwantha Kellapotha in the wings if we need but we're hopeful that Todd Murphy will play a lot of cricket for us this year and continue his development and if the opportunity comes for something higher again then he'll be ready for that."

Players to watch

"I really like what Sammy Harper's doing. He's getting to that age where he's starting to believe more and his attention to detail and professionalism has been incredible. He was the best player up in Darwin of the Victorians in that Top End T20 and then probably the best player again last week when he got a hundred and another 40 (in trial matches against NSW), so he's tracking really well.

"Tommy Rogers is one that has dominated in local cricket and he's an extremely talented young man with everything he does … we want him to just go and play and show what he's capable of and he could potentially become a really good player for us. If there was that chance of Matt Short going and playing for Australia sometime in the future, then I think that Tommy Rogers is that kind of player that could fill his shoes."

Team to beat

"WA are always the team to beat. I think South Australia are building a nice side, particularly with their bowling, which means they'll always be hard to beat. And then it'll be about availability of players in other teams as well – if you put (Mark) Steketee and (Michael) Neser in Queensland's side that makes them very good. And NSW, who knows, they could be anything. They've still got a number of very good players and particularly young guys who might start to step up."

Men's state previews 2023-24: NSW | Queensland | South Australia | Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia