Capacity: 100,000 Founded 1851 | Nickname Bushrangers Location Melbourne, Australia | |
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Colours: Navy blue White Grey Sheffield Shield wins: 31 (1893, 1895, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1908, 1915, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1947, 1951, 1963, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1991, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017) One-day wins: 5 (1972, 1980, 1995, 1999, 2011) Profiles | ||
The Victoria cricket team, currently named Victorian Bushrangers, is an Australian first class cricket team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Victoria cricket team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria in the Sheffield Shield first-class competition and the Ryobi One Day Cup competition. The team's primary home ground is the MCG, but Junction Oval is used as its home ground if the MCG is not available.
Contents
The team is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Victoria's Premier Cricket competition. Victoria also played in the now-defunct Twenty20 competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, which has been replaced by the current Big Bash League.
In recent years, Victoria has won the Sheffield Shield in the 2009/10, 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons, and made the finals in 2005/06 and 2007/08. It also won the first three KFC Twenty20 Big Bash finals.
The Bushrangers' captain is Matthew Wade, who replaced the decade-long captain Cameron White.
History
The team's origins date back to the very start of Australian cricket when the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) was formed in 1838, and in that same year an MCC team played its first match against the Victorian Military. However, the first official inter-colonial (now interstate) game was contested between Victoria and Tasmania in 1851, in Launceston.
Victoria was the dominant force in the early days of Australian first-class cricket, winning two of the first three Sheffield Shield tournaments, and most of its early domestic friendly games against the other states. The first game between the great rivals Victoria and New South Wales was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1856.
The annual Sheffield Shield tournament first began in the 1892/93 season, contested by Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. Victoria won that tournament by defeating both opponents twice each. During the history of the Shield, Victoria has won the competition 30 times, most recently in the 2015/16 season.
The Victorian Cricket Association, now Cricket Victoria, was founded in 1895 and is located in Melbourne, adjacent to the MCG.
Victoria has featured a significant number of cricketing greats, such as Warwick Armstrong, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford, Neil Harvey, Hugh Trumble, Lindsay Hassett, Dean Jones, Jack Blackham, Jack Ryder, Bill Lawry, Bob Cowper, Shane Warne, Keith Miller and Ian Redpath. (See here for a full listing of past players).
Victoria has been a powerful force in Australian cricket and the Australian cricket team has, at least until recent decades, never been short of Victorians in the line up.
The tradition of starting a cricket match at the MCG on Boxing Day also featured Victoria when they played New South Wales in 1965.
Victoria is the only first-class cricket team to have scored over 1,000 in an innings, which it achieved twice in the 1920s – 1,023 against Tasmania in 1922-23, and 1,107 against New South Wales in 1926-27.
Logo and uniform
Throughout its history, Victoria has worn a dark blue cap, and recently that has become the predominant colour of their uniforms in both the One-day and Twenty20 competitions.
The team logo features the famous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, wielding a cricket bat and wearing his iconic helmet. The logo changes slightly every few seasons with the change of official sponsors. The current major sponsor of the team is the Commonwealth Bank.
Squad
Squad for the 2016/17 domestic season. Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Source(s): Cricinfo, DEC Bushrangers
Championships
Records
First Class Batting Records for Victoria
First Class Bowling Records