AAP / Cricket Australia: Rob Prezioso, file photo
)It has been 15 years since Victoria has lifted the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) trophy, and this Saturday the side is looking forward to having the home-ground advantage with players' friends and family spurring them on.
But despite being the frontrunners in the competition after winning their first six matches in a row and securing a spot in the final weeks in advance, the team could very well be classed as underdogs heading into this weekend's decider against Queensland.
A scheduling clash with Australia's tour of New Zealand means the Victorian side has now been without six of its best players since March 13.
During that time, the Victorians have gone from being unbeatable, to losing their last two matches to a bottom-of-the-ladder Western Australian side by six and eight wickets.
Two of the biggest names in world cricket, Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, are obvious losses, with the experience and presence they bring to the field.
But also absent are three of Victoria's spinners – Sophie Molineux, Molly Strano and Georgia Wareham – the latter two leading the wicket-taking tally for the competition.
Fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck, who has been extremely economical opening the bowling with Perry, is another absentee.
The Queensland Fire, too, have been affected, losing spinning all-rounder Jess Jonassen and wicketkeeper/opening batter Beth Mooney to the Australian tour.
But their side has a lot more experience left without the pair and has the advantage of having played in two WNCL finals over the last four years.
Something that does work in Victoria's favour is the form of Elyse Villani, who is standing in as skipper for Lanning while she is away on tour.
AAP / Cricket Australia: Rob Prezioso. file photo
)The opening batter has set the competition alight, grabbing plenty of headlines as the leading run-scorer in the competition (593).
Villani has already become the first player to hit three centuries in a WNCL season this summer and could potentially break another record this weekend if she is able to score 37 runs to overtake Zoe Goss's record for the highest run total in a season (629, set in 1996-97).
But personal achievements aside, Villani says the Victorian team aren't buying into the underdog tag and very much believe they have the team to take hold of the title – with or without their Aussie superstars.
"Finals are really difficult to get into and they're also really difficult to win, so I just feel like, on any given day, any team is capable of winning," she told the ABC.
"I know the girls are so excited about the opportunity and are hopeful that we can finish the season off on a high.
"It hasn't come as a surprise that there's been a big turnover in players because looking at the schedule, we always knew that if we got ourselves into a strong position, that this is what our team would look like … so we've prepared for that."
Still, the prospect of losing six of their biggest stars ahead of the deciding match was obviously a worry for Cricket Victoria, who asked Cricket Australia to consider pushing the date of the final back, to allow them to challenge for the trophy with a full-strength side.
But given there have already been a number of changes to the season's fixtures because of COVID-19 and border closures, that request was denied.
Speaking with the media from her room in New Zealand hotel quarantine, Ellyse Perry said the players were aware the state body had planned to submit that request and hoped it might have been approved.
However, with the sport already having to jump through hoops to keep the competition running, she said the players understood the need to push on.
"For both the Victorian and Queensland girls in the Australian squad, we are a little bit bummed to be missing out on that match," she said.
"In the current climate you've got to make the most of the opportunities to play cricket and I think the fact that there is a match and a final going ahead this weekend was probably the most important thing; that the game gets played."
More tournaments set to crunch WNCL
Looking ahead, it appears a similar issue will occur in the WNCL again for the next couple of years, with the Australian team likely to be busy playing in the 2022 ODI and 2023 T20 World Cups during the domestic competition's window.
Although Villani acknowledges the opportunity their absence creates for other players in the league, she agrees the WNCL may struggle to ever reach the same popularity as the WBBL, with the best players in the country missing.
"While I still think the WNCL competition is the strongest domestic competition in the world, with some amazing games taking place this season … if we can have both the WBBL and WNCL in a window where there is no international cricket, then that would be incredible."
