Victorian Premier Cricket under-18 teams revealed for 2023-24

The new look Victorian Premier Cricket under-18 competition will kick start this weekend. Here’s an insight into the new format and every selected team.

Premier Cricket’s new-look player pathway will be on show this weekend as clubs roll out the next batch of stars in the under-18 program.

Eighteen clubs will take the field as the boys’ competition launches on Sunday under Cricket Victoria’s revamped pathway for juniors, designed to streamline the climb from the underage ranks to the state’s representative squads.

Under the revamp, the existing metropolitan Dowling Shield and Marg Jennings Cup programs have been shifted to younger age groups – from under-17 to under-16 for males, and under-18 to under-15 for females.

One-day and T20 matches will be played throughout the season, with the male comp staged from October to February and the females beginning in January.

Victorian Premier Cricket general manager Liam Murphy said the new-look pathway aimed to foster closer relationships between top-flight and local clubs.

Victoria’s best young guns will be in action. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“We’re very keen to give those aspirational cricketers under the age of 18 the opportunity to have hits against their peers as well as playing senior cricket for either their Premier cricket club or a local cricket club,” Murphy said.

“For the underage players who are progressing through Premier Cricket, it is sometimes quite a challenging environment to play against grown men and throughout the season we’re also giving them the opportunity to play against their peers.

“Instead of potentially batting five, six, seven, or bowling second or third change, they get to go up the order and be a leader within their peers, be it with bat or ball, which I think is a really important piece to this.”

Murphy said the program would also give junior cricket’s late developers greater opportunities to succeed.

“We don’t want to be an environment where if you get on at 13, you’re likely to progress – we want to be able to have people that develop later and give everyone an opportunity,” he said.

It all kicks off this weekend. Picture: Valeriu Campan

A wealth of emerging talent is set to take centre stage this Sunday, with each match featuring players in contention for representative honours.

Murphy highlighted the Melbourne vs. Ringwood match boasting a whopping nine players in the frame, while the Camberwell-St Kilda and Melbourne Uni-Carlton fixtures feature six each.

Fitzroy Doncaster-Geelong and Footscray-Greenvale (five each), Frankston Peninsula-Prahran and Northcote-Dandenong (four each), Richmond-Essendon (three) and Casey South Melbourne-Kingston Hawthorn (one) round out the rollcall.

“This is a testament to the quality of the competition and its role in nurturing young talent,” Murphy said.

Club feedback on the initiative had been positive, with Murphy bullish the exposure to the top-flight would be embraced by the 21 clubs spread across the male and female programs.

“From the discussions I’ve had with a number of clubs, they’re really keen for those aspirational young cricketers to get an additional opportunity to wear the Premier colours,” he said.

“We think the 21 clubs are very much capable of creating an environment to get these kids going to where they need to be.”

SELECTED TEAMS

Camberwell Magpies: Oliver Lowe, Samuel Olsen, Jimmy Thewlis, Charlie Wood, Ronit Rehal, Xavier Wishart, Panav Jaura, Adam Li, Charlie Grummitt, Jez Rigoni, Edward George Winneke, Lucas Jones, Sam O’Brien, Luke Cariss-Brett, Fletch Downs, Daniel Pietz.

Carlton: Akshith Sriram, Aussie McIlwaine, Braydon O’Connor, Hamish Pearce, Harry Simpson, Henry Edwards, Jamie A Shepherd, Jarvis Harvey, Keir Lucas, Leo Dench, Lucas Brasher, Maximilian Dias, Nicholas Brennan, Piyush Pemmaraju, William Haste, Zane Waixel.

Casey South-Melbourne: Will Halton (WK), Max Heffernan, Rison Rajapaske, Jude Owen, Max Walker, Ash Wright, Josh Gibbs, Crandel Siegelwin, Harry Hoekstra (C), Lenny Wilton, Keegan Friedlander, Felix Howard, Dulaj Jayakody, Neville Avari, Lachy Burford.

Dandenong: Aryan Mohan, Harrison Radcliffe, Hayden Wrigglesworth, Jack Bull, Jaskabeer Singh, Jordan Lynn, Lachlan Muir, Lincoln Koliba, Mohammad Abedi, Nathan Giove, Nicholas Sheridan, Ryan Adams, Shaun Thomas, Vishwa Ramkumar.

Essendon: Jessraj Badhaan, Hady Hegazy, Lucas Cavigan, Bailey Toseland, Zach Beniwal, Agamjot Sandhu, Krit Darji, Archy Bhatia, Julian Dleski, Paawan Sharma, Abdul Rafay, Sai Sihadri, Priyansh Choksi, Kyle Mawer, Aarav Saxena, Tejas Hari, Sineru Tantiriwatta, Lachlan Elmore.

Fitzroy-Doncaster: Nathan Flinn, Aryan Sharma, James Heaney, Ronan Culloty, Austin Fardell, Harry Sheers, Lucas Hales, Zac Wilkes, Kepler Lukies, Aryan Arora, Rex Sacristani, Joshua Hempel, Ashu Vedula, Lachlan Pasquali, Kalan Fazio, Harry Smith.

Footscray: Fayzan Adbul Sathaar, Aditya Barot, Adien D’Souza, Lachlan Hay, Cam Jenkins, Darcy Moloney, Alex Mowat, Aayan Nadeem, Aiman Nadeem, Josh Pace, Karthikeya Rallapalli, Abhilasja Rodrigo, Daniel Wilczynski.

Frankston Peninsula: Tom Bath, Ben Buller, Lachlan Caldwell, Mitchell Cestnik, Charlie Costa, Kane Gleeson, Sam Gove, Kamran Malik, Jack Mannix, Tom Murphy, Tajbir Powar, Jasper Speas, Chetan Talluri, Mikis Vemis, Harry Wallace, Max Wilkinson, Aryandeep Singh,.

Geelong: Connor Weidemann, Noah Greene, Tom Kiddle, Max Hutchinson, Jake Klein, Zane Attard, Elwood Geary, Taj Don, Henry Bensch, Fletcher Grimsey-Cook, Oliver Peake, Leo Bent, Tom Patterson, Ted Bain, Darcy Aitken, Lachlan Norton, Noah Berry.

Greenvale: Archie Teasdale, Armann Singh, Callum Large, Dulaj Jayakody, Eshan Singh, Fletcher Evemy, Gavesh Siriwardana, Hamish Mullavey-Clark, Harry Fitzgerald, Jaura Panav Singh, Kyen Burrill-Grinton, Lewis Clive, Lewis Dichiera, Lishan De Silva, Michael Cross, Nirmana Fernando, Noah Thomas, Rhys Drennan, Robbie O’Brien, Samuel Syan, Tobias Sutherland.

Kingston Hawthorn: Not supplied.

Melbourne: Ashton Young, Ben Wickam, Brodie Reaper, Chris Kellaway, Christian Howe (C), Fletcher Good, George Pourpouras, Jack Sullivan, Jeremy Murray, Ritan Raman, Tom Kenny, Tyler Hunter.

Melbourne University: Not supplied.

Northcote: Michael Chen, Earl Dicesare, Damien Fernando, Will Hanlon, Jacob Henry, Adam Howard, Imran Khan, Archie Lalor, Sam Lalor, Zac Mills, Isaac Prestney, Nat Reichman, Mandiv Ruwanapathirana, James Shadbolt, Aryan Sharma, Will Waters.

Prahran: Not supplied.

Richmond: Not supplied.

Ringwood: Billy Box, Paawan Dave, Aarya Deshpande, Archie Flynn, Cameron Livingstone, Jack Meyers, Tanush Nandini, Bailey O’Riley, Kanhai Patel, Lachlan Payne, Michain Premaratne, Lachlan Quinn, Tige Ridley, Kody Taylor, Dylan Walker, Liam Walker.

St Kilda: Cooper Rojko, Fletcher Batty, Frederick Newing, Gurbir Singh, Gus White, Harry Jones, Harvey Field, Moe Spencer, Ned Macmillan, Nicholas Gillard, Reyaan Farooq, Rory Wright, Thomas Paddington.