Shield heartbreak fuelling young Vics to take next step

As the dominant team all last season before stumbling in the Sheffield Shield final, Victoria know they have a team capable of winning the title.

And with an average age of 27 for the XI that went down to South Australia in March, and this season's 25-man squad younger still, it's a team the Vics expect will keep getting better.

They've added just three rookies to their list for 2026-27 – fast bowlers Harry Hoekstra and Tom Paddington and Australian Under-19 allrounder Aryan Sharma – backing the growth to come from within.

Victoria squad for opening match v Queensland: Will Sutherland (c), Austin Anlezark, Liam Blackford, Dylan Brasher, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Harry Hoekstra, Mitchell Jamieson, Blake MacDonald, Tom Rogers, Matt Short, Doug Warren 

Fuelling their preseason sessions has been a Shield final loss that coach Chris Rogers said at the time hurt more than their previous two when they fell short against WA in 2021-22 and '22-23, squandering a 63-run lead as Test star Alex Carey's century and Nathan McAndrew's second innings 60 and three wickets delivered SA back-to-back triumphs.

"We feel we've got a pretty good squad with lots of talent, as shown by not being far off winning a Shield last season," Rogers told cricket.com.au ahead of the new season.

"We feel there's a lot more growth within the squad and we'll keep looking to give them opportunities, and hopefully we can get a number of these players to further their own careers as well … and take that next step."

Men's season previews

 

NSW | Queensland | South Australia

 

Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia

That's perhaps nowhere more evident than in the rise of 20-year-old batting prodigy Oliver Peake, who had his first taste of international cricket during the off-season and is again part of the ODI squad for the upcoming series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The left-hander finished his first full Shield season averaging 23 in some of the toughest batting conditions the competition has seen in the past 50 years, but knocks such as his match-winning 70 against the reigning champions in round one and his U19 World Cup semi-final century prove he already belongs at the top level.

Rogers believes his fast-tracked international exposure has only accelerated his development, adding that the likes of Ricky Ponting calling for him to be rushed into the Test team hasn't been an extra burden for his unflappable young batter.

"I do think his game has improved," Rogers said of Peake's ODI call-up where he scored 71 runs in four innings against Pakistan and Bangladesh in May and June.

"There were probably some areas that as coaches we were looking at, and he seems to have come back (having) addressed a couple of them and improved them as well … that's a great sign.

"It's not a surprise; the way he thinks through his game has been well documented."

Matt Short and Glenn Maxwell were the biggest names to drop off Victoria's contract list this season. Both will continue to represent the state when available but have opted for flexibility after losing their Cricket Australia deals.

Rogers said Short, who is coming off strong Major League Cricket and Hundred seasons, was "still very keen to play for Victoria" and could feature prominently in both red and white ball formats pre-Christmas after losing his spot in the Australian ODI and T20I teams.

"Hopefully, he'll play a bit of cricket for us and force his way back into the Australian side," he added.

2026-27 squad

Head coach: Chris Rogers

 

Squad: Austin Anlezark, Liam Blackford, Scott Boland*, Dylan Brasher, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Harry Dixon, Sam Elliott, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Cam McClure, David Moody, Todd Murphy*, Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake, Mitch Perry, Tyler Pearson, Tom Rogers, Will Sutherland, Doug Warren

 

Rookies: Harry Hoekstra, Tom Paddington, Aryan Sharma

 

Ins: Austin Anlezark (upgraded rookie), Oliver Peake (upgraded rookie), Tyler Pearson (upgraded rookie), Harry Hoekstra, Tom Paddington, Aryan Sharma

 

Outs: Xavier Crone, Jai Lemire, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Callum Stow

 

* Denotes Cricket Australia contract

Last season

Sheffield Shield: Runners-up

 

One-Day Cup: Sixth

Possible XIs

For first one-day game (v Queensland, September 19): Matt Short, Harry Dixon, Dylan Brasher, Tom Rogers, Blake Macdonald, Liam Blackford (wk), Will Sutherland (c), Sam Elliott, Doug Warren, Austin Anlezark, Harry Hoekstra

 

Sheffield Shield (at full strength): Campbell Kellaway, Sam Harper (wk), Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb, Matt Short, Oliver Peake, Fergus O'Neill, Will Sutherland (c), Mitch Perry, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland

Players in representative squads

Australian ODI (Sep 15-30): Oliver Peake

 

Australian Test (Oct 9-31): Scott Boland, Sam Harper

 

Australia A four-day (Sep 22-Oct 2): Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill

 

Australia A one-day (Oct 6-11): Todd Murphy, Will Sutherland

Inside word with head coach Chris Rogers

The rise of Sam Harper

Victoria's wicketkeeper began last season under pressure to hold his spot after a couple of lean years with the bat. Twelve months on and Harper's now on the national selectors' radar after a career-best summer across all formats, earning selection in the Australia A squad for this month's four-day tour of India where he added a sixth first-class century in his past nine innings, which saw him added to the Test squad as injury cover for Josh Inglis.

The two-match tour overlaps with the start of the domestic season, meaning the 29-year-old, as well as Aussie A teammates Peter Handscomb, Campbell Kellaway, Todd Murphy and Fergus O'Neill, will miss the opening two games of Victoria's one-day campaign.

Harper's exploits saw him crowned the BBL|15 player of the tournament as well as Victoria's Bill Lawry and Dean Jones medallist (as their Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup player of the season respectively), and Rogers is tipping more to come this summer.

"Sam Harper did some amazing things last season that we probably didn't expect," he said.

"What's been fantastic is he's had some exposure in T20 competitions overseas now and he blitzed it (second highest run-scorer in the Lanka Premier League with 425).

"All signs are saying that he's taken a big step in his career. He's going into this season with a very different mentality than he was last year when he was coming off being dropped the last Shield game (of the previous season).

"It's not always going to be smooth sailing because of the style of cricket he plays, but there's a sneaky suspicion that he's on the verge of some really good things."

Harper finished last season as the Vics' opener in both the four- and one-day formats, but Rogers said they were constantly mindful of his workloads. "It's a big job to be the keeper and open in every game," the coach said. "We'll think about that and what is the best fit for us in different conditions."

Next wave of Vics quicks

Injuries and representative selection are set to hit Victoria hard at the start of the season. With O'Neill, who Rogers believes may benefit if the pitches are flatter "because he can show that he can perform in those games as well", on standby for the South Africa Test tour and continuing to push for higher honours, exposure for their emerging pace talent is likely to come sooner than expected.

"I just saw a Test match in England where Ollie Robinson and Mohammad Abbas were the biggest wicket-takers and that's his style of bowling," Rogers said of O'Neill. "Front foot defence is not as strong these days and someone like 'Ferg', who challenges that over and over, is probably going to have success in any conditions.

"So, I still think that when he plays for Australia, he'll show that he's good enough.

"We've probably had a group of bowlers who have had a lot of the opportunities over the past three to four years and for varying reasons, whether it's injury or Australia A selection, there might be some opportunities that open up for that next wave of bowlers coming through.

"So the likes of Austin Anlezark and (rookie left-armer) Harry Hoekstra have impressed a lot of people – there's going to be some opportunities for others to show us what they have."

Batting competition

Twenty-five-year-old left-hander Dylan Brasher got the nod to bat at No.3 in the Shield final after impressing on debut in February. He was the fourth batter the Vics tried at the position last season.

With U19 World Cup winner Harry Dixon now another year wiser, there's no shortage of batters waiting for a chance to make their mark.

"Tom Rogers and Blake Macdonald are ones who've had success at different times and look like they've improved and will push the guys in the side," Rogers said. "Then it's up to the likes of Ashley Chandrasinghe and Dylan Brasher to keep pushing as well.

"From a batting point of view, there's really good competition for spots, which means they're all pushing each other to the next level."

Injury list

Fast bowlers Mitch Perry, David Moody and Cam McClure are all recovering from bone stress injuries. Moody is expected to be the first to return and could be available for the first Shield round, with Perry and McClure not far behind.

"Over the past few years we've built good depth and there's a lot of players who have been around for a bit now and have been waiting for their chance," Rogers said.

"It'd be great to see our young bowlers get their opportunity and we'll get to see what they're made of."