Victoria women's cricket team

Victoria

Personnel
Captain	Meg Lanning
Coach	Jarrad Loughman
Team information
Colours	Navy blue   White   Grey
Founded	First recorded match: 1891
Home ground	Junction Oval, Melbourne
Capacity	7,000
Secondary home ground(s)	Shepley Oval, Melbourne
History
First-class debut	New South Wales in 1934 at University Oval, Sydney
AWCC wins	36
WNCL wins	2
WT20C wins	3
Official website	Victorian Cricket Team

The Victoria women's cricket team, previously known as Victorian Spirit, is the women's representative cricket team for the Australian State of Victoria. They play their home games at Junction Oval, St Kilda, Melbourne. They compete in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL), the premier 50-over women's cricket tournament in Australia. They previously played in the now-defunct Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup and Australian Women's Cricket Championships, a competition which they dominated, having won 36 titles.

History

1891–1930: Early history

Victoria's first recorded match was against New South Wales on 17 March 1891, however, the result is unknown.^[1] Their first match with a known result was against New South Wales Second XI, with Victoria winning a one-day, two innings match by 6 wickets on 19 April 1930.^[2]

1931–1996: Australian Women's Cricket Championships

Victoria played alongside New South Wales and Queensland in the inaugural season of the Australian Women's Cricket Championships in 1930–31.^[3] They continued to play in the Championships until its final season in 1995–96.^[4][5] They won the title 36 times, making them the most successful team.^[6]

1996–present: Women's National Cricket League and Twenty20 Cup

Victoria joined the newly-established WNCL in 1996–97.^[7] They have won the title twice, in 2002–03 and 2004–05. They are the most successful side in the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, having won the title three times, with consecutive wins coming in 2009–10, 2010–11 and 2011–12^[8]

Grounds

Victoria have used a number of grounds over the years. Their first recorded home match against Tasmania in 1906 was played at Victoria Park, Melbourne. Historically they have played the vast majority of their home matches at various grounds in Melbourne. Their first match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was against England in 1934. Since 2002 they have also played occasional matches in Geelong.^{[9][10][11][12][1]}

Since 2013, Victoria have played most of their home games at Junction Oval, located in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, as well as occasionally at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Casey Fields. Their two 2019–20 WNCL home games were played at Junction Oval. Their four 2020–21 WNCL league matches, as well as the final, were also played at Junction Oval. In 2021–22, they played six matches at Junction Oval, as well as playing their first ever match at Shepley Oval in Melbourne. In 2022–23, the side returned to just using Junction Oval.^[11][12]

Players

Current squad

Based on squad announced for the 2023/24 season. Players in bold have international caps.^[13]

No.	Name	Nat.	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Notes
Batters
7	Meg Lanning		(1992-03-25) 25 March 1992 (age 32)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	Captain, Cricket Australia contract, Australia Captain
27	Olivia Henry		(2004-01-27) 27 January 2004 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
All-rounders
3	Annabel Sutherland		(2001-10-12) 12 October 2001 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium-fast	Cricket Australia contract
6	Sophie Day		(1998-09-02) 2 September 1998 (age 25)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox
11	Kim Garth	[a]	(1996-04-25) 25 April 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
14	Rhiann O'Donnell		(1998-04-14) 14 April 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
20	Ellyse Perry		(1990-11-03) 3 November 1990 (age 33)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	Cricket Australia contract
23	Sophie Molineux		(1998-01-17) 17 January 1998 (age 26)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	Cricket Australia contract
25	Tess Flintoff		(2003-03-31) 31 March 2003 (age 21)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
32	Georgia Wareham		(1999-05-26) 26 May 1999 (age 24)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	Cricket Australia contract
–	Poppy Gardner		(2005-01-05) 5 January 2005 (age 19)	Right-handed	Left-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
4	Nicole Faltum		(2000-01-17) 17 January 2000 (age 24)	Right-handed	—
22	Sophie Reid		Unknown	Left-handed	–
Bowlers
8	Rhys McKenna		Unknown	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
16	Georgia Prestwidge		(1997-12-17) 17 December 1997 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
17	Tayla Vlaeminck		(1998-10-27) 27 October 1998 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	Cricket Australia contract
18	Ella Hayward		(2003-09-08) 8 September 2003 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
19	Aanliya Cheeran		(2005-04-01) 1 April 2005 (age 19)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
21	Milly Illingworth		(2005-07-15) 15 July 2005 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
28	Jasmine Nevins		(2003-10-07) 7 October 2003 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
34	Samantha Bates		(1992-08-07) 7 August 1992 (age 31)	Right-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox

Notable players

Players who have played for Victoria and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):^[14]

Coaching staff

• Head coach: Jarrad Loughman^[15]
• Assistant coach: Dulip Samaraweera^[16]
• Head of Female Cricket: Sharelle McMahon^[17]

Honours

• Australian Women's Cricket Championships:
  • Winners (36): 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1995–96
• Women's National Cricket League:
  • Winners (2): 2002–03, 2004–05
• Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup:
  • Winners (3): 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12

See also

• Cricket Victoria
• Victoria men's cricket team
• Melbourne Stars (WBBL)
• Melbourne Renegades (WBBL)

Notes

References