DESPITE adverse weather conditions to begin their week, the Victorian State men’s cricket team has enjoyed a successful pre-season training camp in Mildura taking advantage of the outdoor turf availability during and presented by the Mildura West Cricket Club at Aerodrome Ovals.
Led by former Australian test opener and current Victorian head coach Chris Rogers, the squad having arrived on Monday have spent their time in the northwest preparing under winter skies as part of their lead in to the 2025/26 season.
“It’s been brilliant,” Rogers said.
“We came up to get some conditions outside and out on the centre wicket, which we can’t do in Melbourne at this stage of the year.
“It looked like it might be a bit tricky with some of the weather we’ve had up in Mildura, but the groundsmen have done an incredible job, they’ve got a pitch up and it’s been fantastic for the last two days.
“The weather has turned nice, and we’ve had two really solid days training here, we’ve got absolutely what we wanted out of this experience, and hopefully it’s something we can continue to build on in the years to come.”
Rogers was a cult cricketing hero back in his playing days with 25 international test matches.
He was in the top three for highest Australian scorers in all three of the Ashes series he was a part of between 2013 and 2015.
The current Victorian coach is one of only six batsmen in history to score seven international test half centuries or over in consecutive innings.
During the final series of his tenure at the 2015 Ashes, a 37-year-old Rogers walloped a mammoth career high score of 173, finishing with the highest average across both teams and a total of 480 runs, he was awarded Australian player of the series.
His team’s Mildura camp was largely driven by Cricket Victoria’s country talent development specialist Shane Koop in collaboration with local council.
“There’s been a fair bit that’s happened between local council, sporting precincts and Cricket Victoria to get this off the ground,” said Rogers.
“It’s been a great initiative, we’re very happy and feel very grateful for getting this opportunity.”
With a mixture of technical development, tactical preparation and mental skills work recently in Melbourne, Rogers said the chance to put those learnings into action among unknown conditions has been invaluable.
“For the bowlers, it was a bit greasy and a bit wet underfoot, for the batters the pitch has been a bit tricky, but that’s absolutely what we wanted,” he said.
“We wanted to highlight the challenges ahead and how we’re going to react to those.
“So, it’s been a great opportunity to put a lot of things into practice.”
The squad has also experienced some downtime outside of cricket during their stay, visiting Riverside Golf Club and the Mildura Waves aquatic centre.
“We got out to Riverside and played some golf, we’ve been to Mildura Waves to use their facilities as well, they’ve been brilliant, so we’ve had the opportunity to not just do cricket, but a couple of other things as well,” said Rogers.
“And I think the guys have really enjoyed their experience of Mildura.”
With six squad members set to potentially represent Australia A in India, there’s plenty of optimism surrounding the group’s playing depth.
“We’ve got a lot of players now who are getting into that middle 20s age bracket and have played a fair bit of first class cricket now,” said Rogers.
“We’re hoping that a number of these guys are going to take the next step and even start to push for higher honours with Australia.”
Among those tipped to take big strides this summer are rising batting talents Campbell Kellaway, Harry Dixon and rookie Oliver Peake.
Dixon and Peake both made their Big Bash League debuts this year for the Melbourne Renegades while Kellaway has been a part of the Melbourne Stars since December 2022.
“Victoria hasn’t had the greatest success when it comes to producing Australian batters,” said Rogers.
“But with Campbell Kellaway, Harry Dixon and Ollie Peak, I think those are three names that are going to play a lot for Australia in years to come.”
In the bowling stocks, Rogers highlighted more Melbourne-based Big Bash players in Fergus O’Neil, Sam Elliot, Mitch Perry and Australian ODI cap holder Will Sutherland as players to look out for.
Playing at the pinnacle of the sport, Rogers said he trusts his knowledge from his playing days to help mentor this current crop of Victorian cricketers.
“You lean on your experiences, it’s great to be up here and watch how guys are playing in different conditions and then be able to give them some ideas about how they can go, knowing that I’ve played a fair bit of cricket in different conditions like this,” he said.
“It’s always leaning on your experience and then just trying to help these young players navigate the game because it’s very tough, as they’re finding out, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable as well.”
The Victorian State women’s cricket team will venture out to the Mildura Sporting Precinct next week for their own training camp.
