Victoria have not won any men's silverware since the pandemic, but are pinning their hopes on a holy trinity of emerging bats
Victoria preview: The young batting trio set to excite
In a state that has not produced a regular men's Test batter this century, there is mounting optimism that drought could soon break.
In Campbell Kellaway, Harry Dixon and Ollie Peake, Victoria coach Chris Rogers believes his side has the equivalent of "three top-five draft picks". It's a future he hopes the footy-mad state can get excited about, particularly given the sad recent exit of another great Victorian batting hope, Will Pucovski.
The Kellaway-Dixon-Peake holy trinity are involved in the current Australia A tour of India having all finished the 2024-25 domestic summer strongly.
Peake and Dixon, now 19 and 20 respectively, both pulled off standout performances not long after making their domestic debuts, while Peake also shadowed Australia's Test squad in Sri Lanka.
Kellaway, the eldest (at 22) and most experienced (with 31 first-class games to his name) of the group, enjoyed a promotion to open in the Sheffield Shield team and finished the season with scores of 117no, 24, 79, 77, 9 and 165no.
How the three fare this summer alongside more experienced top-order teammates Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Matthew Short and even Glenn Maxwell could dictate how the Vics fare in both formats this season.
Short, who remains a Victorian for now despite his recent relocation to the Gold Coast, and Maxwell will both feature in early one-day games to ensure they are match fit for an early-October Australian T20 International series in New Zealand.
(That's right – if you want to see Maxwell, the two-time ODI champion who retired from that format internationally this year, play something longer than a 20-over match, Brisbane's Allan Border Field is where that unusual occurrence will take place.)
Pushing players towards the national teams remains an overarching priority for the Vics, though there coexists a fierce desire to bring some silverware back to the Junction Oval. There have been no men's trophies added to their cabinet since the pandemic.
They have been frustratingly close too. Under Rogers, they were Sheffield Shield runners-up in consecutive seasons (in '21-22 and '22-23). Then last summer they missed out on the final despite winning more games than second-placed Queensland.
On the 50-over front, Victoria were pipped by last summer's domestic standouts, South Australia, in March's final. It nixed the fairytale of the inaugural Dean Jones Trophy, named for Victoria's last regular Test bat, being awarded to the late great's home state.
Men's season previews
NSW | Queensland | South Australia
An added focus on T20 skills for the Vics' emerging players, meanwhile, remains a work in progress given the ongoing poor performances of the two Melbourne BBL teams.
"I thought it was a solid year," Rogers said of the Shield and one-day sides in 2024-25. "Finishing second (in the One-Day Cup) and third (in the Shield) is not easy – it's a really good competition.
"It always seems to be an even spread, and we're doing it on the back of Victorian born-and-bred players, without importing, and trying to develop these players into resilient, competitive cricketers.
"Frustrated that we couldn't get over the line, and even frustrated that we missed the final in the Sheffield Shield despite having more wins than the second placed team. All in all it was a solid season, and one that kind of keeps us trending in the right direction."
Like most states, Victoria’s bowling depth will be tested this season.
Scott Boland will miss the early one-dayers and likely play just two or three Shield games before the Ashes; Peter Siddle, the One-Day Cup's leading wicket taker last season, has retired, while captain Will Sutherland along with Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill and Sam Elliott are all involved in the India A tour.
An Ashes call-up for O'Neill would be a further hit to their stocks, though Rogers insists he would not be out of place at Test level. Such a debut, were it to materialise, would rival Boland's for popularity among Victorian players and staff.
The bowling squeeze will put some onus on the likes of Elliott, Mitch Perry and Cameron McClure to step up, while Murphy's early absence could see some early 50-over action for newcomer Callum Stow.
Victorian cricket observers are high on the prospects of Stow, the left-arm wrist-spinner who has emerged from Geelong's grade side and through various T20 opportunities to earn a state contract.
The wicketkeeping position is also worth keeping an eye on.
Sam Harper, Victoria's long-time gloveman, was dropped for their final Shield game last season. Handscomb stood in behind the stumps on that occasion, but uncapped pair Liam Blackford and Jai Lemire are the more likely stand-in options if selectors looked past Harper again this season in the longer format.
Blake MacDonald and David Moody, two experienced cricketers from interstate, have also earnt contracts to bolster a men's program which has consciously looked in its own backyard over recent years when it comes to recruitment. Both MacDonald and Moody have been standout Victorian Premier Cricket performers since moving from Sydney and Perth respectively.
2025-26 squad
Liam Blackford, Scott Boland*, Dylan Brasher, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Xavier Crone, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Jai Lemire, Blake Macdonald, Glenn Maxwell*, Cam McClure, David Moody, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Mitch Perry, Tom Rogers, Matt Short*, Will Sutherland, Doug Warren. Rookies: Austin Anlezark, Oliver Peake, Tyler Pearson, Callum Stow
Ins: Harry Dixon (upgraded rookie), Jai Lemire (upgraded rookie), Blake Macdonald, David Moody, Oliver Peake, Callum Stow
Outs: Peter Siddle (retired), Will Pucovski (retired), Jon Merlo, Josh Brown, Reiley Mark
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
Last season
Sheffield Shield: Third
One-Day Cup: Runners-up
Possible best XIs
For first one-day game (v Queensland at AB Field): Harry Dixon, Matt Short, Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Sam Harper (wk), Will Sutherland (c), Sam Elliott, Mitch Perry, David Moody, Callum Stow
Sheffield Shield (at full strength): Campbell Kellaway, Harry Dixon, Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb, Matt Short, Sam Harper (wk), Will Sutherland (c), Sam Elliott, Fergus O'Neill, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
Availability
Victoria will be playing musical chairs to begin the season.
Captain Will Sutherland will play the season opener for Victoria before joining Australia A's four- and one-day squads. He was already in the 50-over group but was a late call-up for the second four-day match due to an injury to fellow allrounder Aaron Hardie.
That will then leave Victoria without their skipper until their third one-day game on October 9 (v SA in Adelaide) at the earliest or, failing that, their second Shield match (v NSW at the Junction) on October 15. Todd Murphy, who is also is in the A squads for all five matches, is in the same boat.
O'Neill, Kellaway and Peake are in the four-day A squad but not the one-day group. That trio will miss the first two one-dayers with the Vics but should be back for their opening Shield match on October 4.
Dixon and Elliott, in the one-day but not the four-day squads, can play the early one-dayers before missing the first Shield round.
Short is doubtful to play much for Victoria if he holds his spot in Australia's white-ball sides. Maxwell is retired from ODIs but appears unlikely to play any Shield cricket. Boland meanwhile will be carefully managed ahead of the Ashes.
"We're probably missing about four or five (first-choice players) from each side (to start the respective seasons)," said Rogers.
"It's another good health check of our squad. Are we developing cricketers who can step up and perform, even though they're not always selected players?
"I'm sure the likes of WA or NSW have had similar issues when they've had lots of players playing for Australia."
The inside word with head coach Chris Rogers
The pre-season
"There's still been a good focus on T20, because we know that the opportunities and the money players can make out of T20 is important. It would be negligent of us if we weren't supporting that part of their development. It's slightly different (to other state programs) when we have one state side and two BBL sides. So there's a few different masters in all that. But developing their T20 stuff is going to help them become better cricketers anyway."
Is Matt Short still a Victorian?
"I had a really good conversation with him. He's eyeing a bigger prize now. White-ball cricket for Australia seems to coincide with a lot of Shield cricket often for us. Last year he played one game. He's flying himself down (from Queensland), he's putting himself up. He said to me whenever he's needed, he'll be here, he's committed to what we're doing. This is the world we're in now, particularly the nationally selected players – they can probably move in slightly different circles."
Is Sam Harper still Victoria's first-choice Shield keeper?
"Everyone has to earn their position in the Shield side. But he's still our number one keeper. We've got a couple of young keepers in Lemire and Blackford who are still developing their game, we've got high hopes for them. But we know Harps' best wins you games of cricket. Probably what came out of (getting dropped last season) was we really challenged him about some of the mistakes he was making and the lack of ability to address them. I think his career average and his season average were about the same (25.29 and 24.00, respectively), and they wouldn't be what he would hope them to be. We challenged him a fair bit around that (those mistakes). He probably wasn't learning and – for lack of a better term – he wasn't fixing them. I think he was a bit shocked at the time, but out of it, as often happens, there's some really good conversations and I know he's been referencing that chat quite a lot since then. That's no guarantee that it's going to make it better, but if it does then we know we have a player who's high class and who wins us games."
Areas for improvement
"I'm more focused on the area we see improvement coming and that is through a young and talented batting group. We've got three young players that we think have the skill and the ability to do great things in cricket. The game doesn't just give it to people, you have to earn it. But we're really excited about that group and what it's going to bring."
Players to watch
"I think Kellaway, Dixon and Peake are the three, really, that I think not only Victorian supporters should be excited about, but I think Australian supporters should be excited about. It's just up to them now and to put the performances on the board and be consistent enough to warrant selection.
"I look at Harry Dixon and Ollie Peake, they probably don't even know a lot of the questions they're going to be asked. They haven't played enough to understand what Jackson Bird might present at them, what Joel Paris might throw at them. It'll be really good to see how they learn. The art of coaching and selection is knowing when to pull them out as well and let them go away and figure out some answers. It's not going to be a linear development for these guys. They're going to have their ups and downs, and they will probably be quite extreme when they're young. It happens to everyone. Fortunately they'll have some excellent senior players in Peter Handscomb and Marcus Harris who can support them."
Young guns
"We've got nine players who are in and around the Australia and Australia A sides … in terms of the emerging players. There's still another little group that sits behind that as well that probably are getting to a good stage in their career, whether they're mid-20s and have played a few games or whether there's opportunities around the corner (for less-experienced players). We've got a couple of young spinners in Doug Warren and Callum Stow who haven't had a lot of exposure considering Todd Murphy has done such a good job for us. Even Cam McClure, Sam Elliot, Mitch Perry – they're the kind of ones we're really hoping we'll get some good growth out of this year. And if that happens we'll have a very good season."
Team to beat
"I knew you were going to ask that – and I thought to myself, it's all five states. It's been really interesting, doing a bit of a health check of all the sides, just about all of the states have had really good years, then tough years as well. And even WA went from winning everything to last in the two competitions. It just shows you how small the margins are."