After a summer on the road, WA are out to end a 22-year Sheffield Shield drought against Victoria’s dynasty

Likewise veteran batter Shaun Marsh, who grew up on tales of his father’s own winning ways.

This week their long wait for a winning campaign could well come to an end. If they can get past the most successful Shield side of the 21st century – Victoria.

The Bushrangers arrived in WA with a squad featuring nine previous Shield winners and some of the most exciting prospects in the country, aiming for a fifth title in eight summers.

Still, as the Warriors bid to break a drought stretching back to 1998-99 (when Voges was around the side, but yet to debut), at least they do so on home soil. Something they’ve rarely had the chance to do in a summer that has them on the edge of history – triumphs in all three formats. Across the three tournaments and 30 games, WA and the Scorchers have played six home matches.

Voges takes plenty of pride in his squad’s resilience, and is now determined to see them celebrate something he never could as a player of 15 years – which included back-to-back finals in 2014-15 and a century in the latter.

“We’ve made no secret that we’d love to win a Sheffield Shield,” Voges tells CodeSports. “I was lucky enough to play in a couple of finals that ended up in draws – being the away team that wasn’t good enough.

“I certainly was pretty desperate as a player and then later as a captain in my playing career to try and win a Shield. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get there but hopefully I can help these young guys achieve that over the next week.”

Among those “young guys” is 38-year-old Marsh, who Voges in particular wants to bring success.

“Obviously I’m excited for all of the guys but certainly for Shaun to have played more than 20 years for Western Australia and to get the opportunity to lead the team out on Thursday to toss the coin at home in a Shield final.

“That he is going to get that opportunity and experience, he has worked incredibly hard over two decades to get WA into this position. I’m really excited for him.”

On the opposite side of the country and level of Shield success this century is Victoria. The Vics have won the Shield seven times since WA last reigned supreme, including three on the trot from 2015-17, a run started by keeping the Warriors to a rain-affected draw in Hobart.

Only five of the Bushrangers current squad in Perth do not boast a Sheffield Shield winner’s medal. Of those, two have at least had a taste of the celebrations.

Youngsters Will Sutherland and Mitchell Perry were both in the Junction Oval dressing rooms when the Bushrangers won the 2018-19 final. Neither had made their first-class debuts yet, but both had spent plenty of time around the squad as contracted players – Sutherland on a full deal and Perry rookie listed.

Being there that day was just added motivation for a duo that had long dreamt of winning Australia’s oldest cricket trophy.

“With all these young guys coming through, it was like, ‘How good is this, this is what we want to be doing in a few years’ time’,” Perry says.

“Hopefully we get our opportunity this week. Just seeing what it was like in the rooms after was unbelievable, you can’t really describe it.”

While both Perry and Sutherland are blessed to be playing in a team that knows how to win, winning cultures only stay that way with the right buy-in.

It’s a culture embodied by veterans like captain Peter Handscomb and seamer Scott Boland, but one that started long before any current member of the dressing room entered the fray, harking back to Victorian greats like Bob Quiney, Brad Hodge and Cameron White.

“Guys like Jon Holland, Patto (James Pattinson), Bollo (Boland), Travis Dean, Peter Handscomb – they’re all still carrying forward those values,” Sutherland says. “It’s a pretty ruthless, positive, better for longer style of cricket.

“It’s one of the most important things to keep the culture and success that Victoria has had going, carrying it through for that younger group.

“Mitch and myself will be leaders of that group in the coming years and we’ll definitely try and carry the culture through; the win-rate and everything that comes with it.”

Sutherland and Perry came through Victoria’s development pathways together, the former as an all-rounder subject to admiring glances from AFL scouts, the latter a budding fast bowler who could swing the ball around corners.

In a squad featuring former and current Test players Pattinson, Boland and Holland, Perry and Sutherland have established themselves as cornerstones of Victoria’s attack this summer.

Perry (22 wickets at 25.54) is the team’s top wicket-taker, with Sutherland (18 at 15.66) third behind Boland (21 at 15.66).

They’ve been bred for success by a system that expects nothing less. Given the Bushrangers‘ Shield record this century, competition for selection is intense at all levels.

“Everyone wants to play for Victoria and be in that side,” Perry says of the underage and Premier cricket circuit in the state. “Coming through you always hear about how good the Vics are going. You obviously see it, they just kept winning Shield finals – that’s just what they did and hopefully they can do it again.

“You always had a few of the older players come down the pathways and talk about what it‘s like in senior cricket. That was always pretty special.

“The guys in Premier cricket as well, they’re all fighting their ass off to get a contract and play for Victoria.

“You’ve got to keep improving and keep wanting to get better and keep striving to play at the highest level you can.”

While it has been a long time since WA held the Shield aloft, plenty of bubbly has already been sprayed in celebration this summer. In January, the Perth Scorchers won the Big Bash League. In February, Western Australia won the One-Day Cup.

That is all the more impressive given how rarely they’ve all gotten to sleep in their own beds. WA played just two home games in the One-Day Cup, both in October. The Scorchers played just one in the BBL, in early December. In the Shield, prior to last week, the Warriors had not played at home since October.

Given those travails, it would be fitting if the state’s wait to win a Shield came to an end in its own backyard.

“It’s been a long summer,” Voges says. “To spend the majority of the tournament on the east coast and be on the road for the amount of time we have been, it’s tested the resilience of the group and the staff for that matter.

“It’s to the credit of everyone involved they just got on with the job really well and had some good success throughout that season. It’s certainly nice to get back home and earn the right to host the final. That’s something we’re very excited about.”

Whatever happens this week, he says the state can be happy with what it has achieved.

“It would top off what has been a remarkable season. Regardless of the result of this game, everyone at WA cricket can be proud of what we’ve achieved this year.”

If WA do prevail, it will be just the second time a state has won all three men’s domestic trophies in a season. The first? Victoria in 2018-19.