One Day Cup 2015 preview: Victoria Bushrangers

After having a look at last year’s winners, Queensland, and the runners up, New South Wales, we now move on to Victoria, the team that finished third in season 2013/14.

The Victorians on paper looked like they might have been the team to beat last year, with a very experienced squad.

For a lot of the comp, Victoria looked like they would be the team to beat, led by eventual player of the series Cameron White.

They ended the season with four wins and two losses, which was exactly the same as the NSW Blues. The only thing that separated the Blues and Bushrangers on the table was that the Blues had a single bonus point, and the Bushrangers had been deducted half a point for slow over rates.

The only games that Victoria lost during the regular season were against Queensland and the David Warner led NSW.

This year not a whole lot has changed for the Bushrangers. They have the same experienced squad as last year, with some very promising youngsters. They will be led by Matthew Wade, however there are some serious questions over the make-up of their team.

Even though the Bushrangers had a great one day season last year, the same couldn’t be said about their Sheffield Shield campaign, where they finished at the bottom of the table. It would seem that some players, the most notable being David Hussey, had fallen out of favour, however most of these players should play in the one day competition.

They will lose three players to Australia’s tour of the United Arab Emirates to play Pakistan – Aaron Finch, Peter Siddle and Glen Maxwell – while Chris Rogers, who more than likely wouldn’t have made the Victorian one day side, is also in the UAE.

Best XI
1. Rob Quiney
2. Dan Christian
3. Marcus Stoinis
4. Cameron White
5. David Hussey
6. Matthew Wade
7. John Hastings
8. Clint McKay
9. James Muirhead
10. Scott Boland
11. Fawad Ahmed

Players to watch

Dan Christian
Christian had a breakout one-day season last year, scoring 155 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 116.54 and taking eight wickets at an average of a tick over 30. He often was an x-factor player for the Bushrangers and will be hoping to perform as well again this year.

With his power hitting and very decent bowling, he can swing a game in his team’s favour. Definitely one to watch.

James Muirhead
Muirhead has burst onto the scene in the last 12 or so months. After shooting to the top and representing Australia in an international T20 at the end of last summer, he could really be the next big spin bowler in Australia. He will be hoping to start his domestic season strongly for Victoria.

Major strength
The Bushrangers’ two major strengths are their experience and the wealth of spin bowling talent. No one could argue that they have the most experienced batting line-up in the competition, with the likes of White, Hussey, Quiney, Christian and Wade.

With two spinners labelled in their best XI above, they also have Jon Holland not in that best XI, which really shows their wealth of spin-bowling talent.

Major weakness
Their pace bowling attack is not up to scratch. Hastings brings them something else batting at seven, but McKay will really have to carry them through this series and hope the batsmen and spinners fire.

Full fixture
Game 1: Queensland vs Victoria 4th October @ The Gabba (Start Time 9:30am)
Game 2: Victoria vs South Australia 6th October @ The Gabba (Start Time 1:00pm)
Game 3: Tasmania vs Victoria 8th October @ Allan Border Field (Start time 9:30am)
Game 4: Victoria vs New South Wales 12th October @ North Sydney (Start Time 10:00am)
Game 5: Queensland vs Victoria 14th October @ North Sydney (Start time 10:00am)
Game 6: Victoria vs New South Wales 17th October @ Drummoyne (Start time 2:00pm)
Game 7: Victoria vs Western Australia 19th October @ Drummoyne (Start time 2:00pm)

Prediction
The Bushrangers should go well, even with a tough draw playing Queensland and New South Wales twice. Should make the top three.

Tomorrow, we turn our attention to the South Australia Redbacks.