FOR five years Victoria has found a way to not just succeed in cricket’s Twenty20 phenomenon, but dominate the game.
The Bushrangers have won four of the five domestic championships and lost the other final by a single run off the last ball of the match.
Last year in the inaugural Champions League in India they again overcame the worst of conditions and the toughest draw to reach the semi-finals.
But in this year’s Champions League, getting under way in South Africa, Victoria faces the biggest challenge of its Twenty20 life in the US$6 million battle of the world’s 10 best domestic teams.
In the lucrative world of Twenty20, circumstances have conspired against Victoria due to the trend of the top players having multiple team allegiances.
Victorian captain Cameron White, rated among the world’s most explosive batsmen in this format, will play for Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore because of his $1 million contractual commitment.
As soon as the Royal Challengers also qualified for the Champions League by reaching the IPL final, the Bushrangers lost White.
Similarly, the two imports who helped the Bushrangers win their domestic final against fellow qualifier South Australia last summer – West Indian Dwayne Bravo and Kiwi Ross Taylor – are lost to Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers, respectively.
It leaves a hard road for the Vics, though coach Greg Shipperd is quietly confident his squad can still give a ton of cheek, starting with host team the Warriors in Port Elizabeth on September 13.
“We started from a long way back before, and we can do it again,” Shipperd said. “It’s a talented group, we have a very good attack and we’re up for the challenge.”
Premier new-ball bowler Dirk Nannes, who last year was bound to the Delhi Daredevils, is back with the Bushrangers and key seamer Shane Harwood and aggressive paceman Peter Siddle are back from long-term injuries.
Still, it was a rusty Victoria that lost four out of four warm-up matches against the Redbacks and Queensland.
David Hussey, another of the world’s best Twenty20 batsmen, will lead Victoria in White’s absence.
“We’ve probably started favourites in most of the domestic competitions and we made the final four last year, so there’s definitely an air of excitement and confidence this year,” Hussey said.
The winner of the final in Johannesburg on September 26 gets US$2.5 million.