Victoria set to make their mark at Australian National Championships

Victoria is gearing up for another campaign at the Australian Indoor Cricket National Championships, which will take place from 28 June to 12 July at Striker Indoor Sports and Seamer Indoor Sports in Perth, Western Australia.

The Opens and Under-22 Teams will play in the first week of the competition, starting Saturday, and whilst they finished last year without a title and just one grand final appearance across the four divisions, the teams have been putting in the preparation to ensure they will be competitive at this year’s tournament.

Open Men

National Titles: 4

2024 Result: 5th (Won 3, Lost 8)

After a disappointing showing last year, the Open Men’s team will have work their cut out for them at this year’s Championships. Their fifth place finish in 2024 saw them miss out on the finals, and they will want to remedy that in Perth with a team that is continuing to rebuild.

A change in leadership will see Kieran Perkins captain the team for the first time, taking over from brother Justin who had led the side for the last seven years.

The core of the squad remains with three Australian representatives in the Perkins brothers and Daniel Van Hees, as well as Geoff Latham, Jono Mummery, Jacob Carruthers, and Lachlan King, who is based in Queensland.

After blooding some younger players last year, there will be further changes. With Zachary Grech, Daniel Juricic and Ethan Lovell unavailable; Tom Elvin and Josh Smith come up from the Under-22 Men, as well as Daniel Spencer, who will all make their debuts.

Chandima Abeykoon, Cameron Clayton, and Matthew Messemaker have all moved on to the Over-35 Men, though Nilantha Wijekoon is in the side.

Former captain Justin Perkins is tempering expectations for the current year, but says the key will be in their players untested at this level being able to deliver in the back end of the tournament. “Our expectations were to improve and retain our young players blooded in last year, and have a few experienced players return, but once again our initial extended squad of 18 went down to 11 with players pulling out. Our preparation has been good however, as we have been training twice a week for the last three months with all players in attendance (with the exception of King)” said Perkins.

“We will still be expecting to play finals this year with the top end talent that we have, but we have a few unknown players at this level who will need to fire in order for us to be a challenge for other teams in the latter part of the tournament.”

Squad: Kieran Perkins (Captain), Justin Perkins, Jacob Carruthers, Geoff Latham, Lachlan King, Jono Mummery, Josh Smith, Daniel Spencer, Daniel Van Hees, Nilantha Wijekoon, Tom Elvin.

Coach: Matthew Fitt

Assistant Coach: Aaron Bentley

Manager: Sam Bright

Open Women

National Titles: 6

2024 Result: Runners-Up (Won 7, Lost 3)

The Open Women’s Team go into this year’s tournament with a very consistent presence and a relatively unchanged squad. There has been just one change to the team from last year - with Laura Shaw unavailable, Rituja Talekar comes in to make her debut.

The Victorians will have to contend with a dominant Queensland side who have now won the last six Championships, defeating them in the last four finals. Victoria were the last team to win it before this juggernaut, in 2016. South Australia will also be expected to be competitive.

Coach Ross Gregory knows if they can play to their potential, they might finally be able to break the Queensland stranglehold on the division. “We were runners-up last year, and we hope to go one better, if the players can play to their best level. Queensland are an excellent side; they have shown that the last few years. We will need to be at our best during the week and in the finals to have a chance of beating them when it counts, as is the case with South Australia” he said.

“The girls have trained very well this year and have put in a lot of time and hard work in their preparation.”

Squad: Nicole Martin (Captain), Adelaide Campion (Vice-Captain), Jess Surace, Isabella Weber, Jessica Adams, Danielle Montague, Tamzyn Polkinghorne, Madeleine Wright, Haylee Landi, Ella Baulch, Rituja Talekar, Chloe Ip.

Coach: Ross Gregory

Manager: Tom Holt

Under-22 Men

2024 Result: 6th (Won 1, Lost 9)

A tough outing for the Under-22 Men last year saw them finish last in the division with a solitary victory.

They will be looking for a significant improvement from this showing, and with a change in management and personnel, they should be hopeful to put up some better performances this coming week.

Former Open Mens player Blair Hemmingson has taken over the side as coach, with Ian Fuller joining as manager.

Some players have aged out of the division, whilst Tom Elvin and Josh Smith have moved up to the Open Men.

Fuller said the changes have been positive for the team environment, and are they looking forward to making some greater strides from last year. “A change in leadership and management has brought in a culture change making everyone accountable for the team and themselves. There has been plenty of work on the new second ball rule, repetition and focus on the simple things we can control” said Fuller.

“After finishing last in 2024, our expectations are for a vast improvement in our performances. At a minimum we would like to make the semi-finals, and not languish at the end of the table.”

Squad: Angus McEvoy, Connor Le Noury, Cooper Gray, Cooper Sticht, Ethan Davies, James Sajeba, Jamie Matheson, Max Cron, Robert Fuller, Cameron Smith.

Coach: Blair Hemmingson

Manager: Ian Fuller

Under-22 Women

2024 Result: Preliminary Final (Won 2, Lost 8)

After a preliminary final appearance last year, the Under-22 Women will expect another tough test at this year’s tournament, with the division expanding from four to six teams.

Defending champions New South Wales were dominant in 2024, whilst Victoria were bested by Queensland on their way to the final.

There have been a few changes to the team from last year, which will be led by Lauren Barclay. Ashling O’Farrell comes back into the team after a couple of seasons out due to injury, whilst Mikayla Lewis-Simmonds, Tegan Rule and Darcy Collins will be playing for the first time.

Coach Tony Pahi is optimistic on building on last year’s performance by going one better and making it into the grand final.

“After a loss to Queensland in the preliminary final last year this year's team is very much looking forward to performing well and going one step further and making it to the Grand Final” said Pahi.

This year we have had some of our Under-18 players join the team that won last year's Junior title. What they have brought to the team have added great depth to the squad”.

“I believe that the team will perform well this year and challenge for the title, but as the girls have said, we must go through the processes one game at a time.”

Squad: Lauren Barclay (Captain), Stella De Roos, Juliet Edwards, Tegan Rule, Rosie Sykes, Mikayla Lewis-Simmonds, Katie Lamb, Lily Murrihy, Ashling O’Farrell, Darcy Collins, Samantha Arscott.

Coach: Tony Pahi

Assistant Coach: Peter Leerson

Manager: Lisa Hyman

Fixtures

Australian National Championships Schedule

Results, Scorecards and Points Table - Seamer Indoor Sports

Results, Scorecards and Points Table - Striker Indoor Sports

Image: Dylan Burns Photography for Cricket Australia