Encourage Victoria to spoil WA’s propensity for back-to-back titles

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By Webdesk


The bitter realization began to sink in for coach Chris Rogers as Victoria’s disappointing campaign against lowly New South Wales continued at home in December, just before the Sheffield Shield mid-season break.

“I thought we were staring down the barrel of a wooden spoon,” Rogers said last week.

Victoria’s season was effectively on the line after she lost two games in a row after tying the first three. Last season’s finalists had fallen against NSW in their second innings to 6 for 131, a lead of just 57, leading to a dejected Rogers fearing the worst.

Four straight wins since the resumption of the season have propelled a youthful Victoria into a rematch of last year’s decider with defending champions Western Australia in the WACA starting on Thursday.

As Rogers began to lose hope, Victoria’s players always claimed they were not far from a change of fortune.

“Wooden spoon… that’s a bit hard. I have a chat with Buck [Rogers] after that,” Victoria captain Peter Handscomb grinned in Perth on Wednesday.

“The signs were there. Just those little moments that we couldn’t cross the line earlier in the season. We’re finally winning those clutch moments.”

Victoria’s climb up the ladder has been built around a strong bowling attack backed up by thrillingly fast Mitchell Perry and Fergus O’Neill, who have taken a combined 55 wickets.

With Handscomb missing the rebound as he was on Australia’s tour of India, former Test opener Marcus Harris and in-form Matthew Short have led the batting order superbly.

Only recently returning from India, Handscomb has walked into a very confident side optimistic about their chances of ending WA’s bid for a second successive treble of domestic titles.

“Overall as a Victorian team we’ve always had a bit of confidence and these young guys coming through don’t lack confidence either,” he said. “It’s good to just roll back in, I didn’t have to say too much. These guys are just running their show.”

Handscomb and Murphy cause selection headaches

Handscomb will replace veteran opener Travis Dean or emerging batter Ashley Chandrasinghe.

But a major selection dilemma looms between veteran left arm spinner Jon Holland and offspinner Todd Murphy, who is fresh off his standout performances in India.

Holland has taken 12 wickets at 28.75 in seven games this season, including 3 for 15 in WA’s first innings of 122 last week.

Murphy looks likely to get the nomination, but has never played at the pace-friendly WACA, a terrain known for being uncompromising for spinners.

“Todd Murphy also hadn’t played a game in India and he still got picked and did well there,” said Handscomb. “We don’t care if guys have played here or not. We have a lot of talent in the squad.

“Whoever misses who played… it’s going to be tough.”

Given their pace richness, further enhanced by Test quick Scott Boland taking eight wickets against WA on his return, and the reputation of the field, Victoria is unlikely to play both Holland and Murphy, although the surface will be calmer for the five day latest.

In particularly grueling conditions, characterized by a green-tinted field, only two of the five games at the WACA this season have reached day four, and both games ended before lunch.

WA would unleash Lance Morris

“It looks a little bit more fun to hit than all season, [but] we will support our bowlers to take 20 wickets,” said WA captain Sam Whiteman.

Coming from a thrashing to Victoria where they looked to be going through the motions having already secured a home final, WA will be boosted by the expected return of speedy Lance Morris, Joel Paris and Matt Kelly.

Morris was overlooked for selection in India and has not played since the BBL in late January, with his last red-ball game coming against Queensland in early December.

“I had the joy of facing the confrontation [Morris] in the nets yesterday and came through unscathed,” Whiteman said. “He bowls fast and after a month of bowling in the nets, he’s itching to go.”

While Handscomb admitted that spoiling WA’s gold run was “extra motivation”, Whiteman preferred to play according to the organization’s playbook and not give too much away publicly.

“There is absolutely no question of winning all three titles this season,” he said. “I don’t think there is any internal pressure. We played really good cricket this year and deserved the right to play at home.

“They’ve got a full head of steam. It’s going to be a damn good game.”

Tristan Lavalette is a journalist from Perth



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