Where there’s a Will, there’s a way: Victoria’s unlikely ride to the Sheffield Shield final

03/22/2023

Here was a shit sandwich if ever there was. Will Sutherland wasn’t even vice captain of Victoria – no one was – when he was surprisingly made locum captain of a team that had won none of its first five Sheffield Shield games this season until rolling lowly NSW just before the Big Bash break.

But after the interlude, while all eyes were on the Test team in India, one win suddenly became five in a row, the last over high-riding WA at the WACA ground last week to catapult the Vics into the final back there from Thursday.

Will Sutherland addresses his Victorian teammates.Credit:Getty Images

Sutherland, 23, demurs at the idea of a Midas touch. “We took the approach that the pressure was off,” he said. “We were a young side on a journey that might eventuate in a couple of years’ time. But all of a sudden, maybe with the weight off the shoulders, with some freedom, the boys started to play some really good cricket.

“We’re on a bit of a heater at the moment.”

Sutherland said the team sensed opportunity after beating Queensland at the MCG in the first of its post-Christmas streak. “They’re one of the strongest sides in the country and we really weren’t expected to win that one,” he said. “Once we won that after losing the toss on a dicey wicket, it sort of felt like we couldn’t really lose.”

On the last day of that match, it was announced that then unknown Queensland spinner Matt Kuhnemann had been called up by the Test team in India. It must have reinforced in all minds the lot of the Shield cricketer: obscure, but only ever one lucky break away from the big time.

Will Sutherland celebrates a wicket for Victoria.Credit:Getty Images

“When you put it like that, it is closer than you think,” said Sutherland. “I try never to think about it like that. I just think about winning the game for the state. That’s the way I’ve always played. But it can happen very quickly, as we saw with Kuhny and Todd Murphy. You’ve just got to keep working hard and give yourself every opportunity for that if it ever comes.”

Sutherland had prospects in cricket and footy, but went with his heart. A Geelong supporter as per family tradition, he did allow his mind to wander to what might have been on grand final day last year, but said he had no regrets.

He’s an all-rounder, happy always to be in the game, but weary sometimes because he’s never out of it.

“I always say I want to be a genuine all-rounder,” he said. “The stats would suggest I’m more of a bowing all-rounder at the moment. But you have to have the mindset to be a genuine all-rounder if you want that to happen. I divide my time up pretty equally, to try to improve my batting and become a genuine all-rounder one day.”

Matthew Kuhnemann bowls for Queensland against Victoria at the MCG.Credit:Getty

His model is Shane Watson. He’s read the former Australian all-rounder’s book and speaks to him regularly. What he takes from him is how to play the game with the mind.

“Self talk. Understanding the attributes that bring out your best performance,” Sutherland said. “For my batting, it’s more of an aggressive mindset. Try to pick a fight almost out in the middle. It’s going to be different for each person, but when I think back to my best innings, that’s the way I was. I try to channel that when I bat.”

Sutherland’s promotion to the Victorian captaincy while Peter Handscomb was in India was both out of the blue and foreseeable. He’s just 23, but did captain Australia’s Under 19s and he bore first-hand witness to the responsibilities entailed by high office as his youth and adolescence pretty much coincided with the 18 years that his father James was CEO of Cricket Australia.

Sutherland said he and his father talked about leadership and shared articles. “I’m sure I picked up things as a kid, watching him and the way he carried himself,” he said. “He’s a very good role model for leadership, that’s for sure.”

For the final, Sutherland will hand the reins back to Handscomb, newly returned from India. This final is a repeat of last year’s on the same ground, won by WA on first innings bonus points.

When the two teams played there last week, the pitch was sporty and the scoring low. Sutherland expects a different pitch this week, and knows to prepare a different WA attack. Seamers Lance Morris, Joel Paris and Matt Kelly will all come back into the team after a strategic rest; between them, they have taken 78 Shield wickets at 17 this season.

Not that Victoria lacks firepower. Scott Boland no longer needs an introduction, Sutherland himself has taken 36 wickets at 20.6 this season and Mitch Perry and Fergus O’Neill have emerged as bowlers of account. The final will be won by whichever batting team stands up best to the barrages.

Will Sutherland batting at the under 19 national championships in December 2016.Credit:cricket.com.au

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Where there’s a Will, there’s a way: Victoria’s unlikely ride to the Sheffield Shield final

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