Victorian Premier Cricket

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Victorian Premier Cricket

Administrator	Cricket Victoria
Format	2-day matches, 1-day matches, Twenty20
First edition	1906–07
Tournament format	home and away, finals
Number of teams	18
Current champion	Carlton (2023/24)
Most successful	22 Melbourne
Most runs	Warren Ayres (15,277)[1]
Most wickets	Bert Ironmonger (862)[2]

Victorian Premier Cricket is the highest level club cricket competition in the state of Victoria, administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams (firsts through to fourths) of adult players and usually play on weekends and public holidays. Matches are played on turf wickets. The competition commenced in the 1906–07 season when it was known as "district cricket" with players allocated to their clubs based on residential qualifications. The district qualification has since been removed and competition was renamed in 1990.

Throughout the majority of its history, the competition was played under two-day, two-innings-per-side rules, with most results being decided on a first-innings basis. In the early 21st century, separate competitions under the premier cricket banner were established for one-day matches (2002–03 to 2017–18) and Twenty20 (2005–06 to 2013–14). These have since been combined, and there is now a single premier cricket competition which features a combination of fixtures in all three formats across the season.

Outstanding players in the competition are selected to play for the Victorian Bushrangers at first-class and List A level, in the Sheffield Shield and Marsh One Day Cup competitions respectively.

Inter-club cricket in Melbourne had its beginnings during the 1850s, with matches arranged on an informal basis. The newspapers usually decided the season's best team via the consensus of journalists. In 1870, the Challenge Cup was introduced, beginning an era of more structured competition.

For the 1889–90 season, a program of pennant matches was devised over eight rounds, which began the era of club competition recognisable today. The original competing teams were Carlton, Essendon, East Melbourne, Fitzroy, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, South Melbourne, University and Williamstown. There were no restriction on the recruitment of players and the stronger clubs (such as East Melbourne, Melbourne and South Melbourne) attracted the leading players, and other teams remained very weak, and the unevenness of the competition resulted in a lack of public support. In 1892–93, the competition split into two divisions; and in 1895–96, it split outright into two competitions when the stronger teams seceded.^[3] However, unevenness persisted.

The solution was found in a district cricket scheme, under which players needed a residential qualification to play for their club. In 1903, a VCA sub-committee recommended the implementation of the system. Due to many differences of opinion (most notably, the powerful Melbourne Cricket Club dissented), district cricket did not commence until 1906–07. The eleven inaugural district teams were Carlton, Collingwood (a newly formed club), East Melbourne, Essendon, Fitzroy, Hawksburn (which became Prahran the following year), North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, South Melbourne and University – with Melbourne notably absent, maintaining a senior playing presence under non-district rules, but not part of the premiership. A promotion and relegation system between an A Grade and B Grade was originally envisioned but dispensed with; and the premier club of second grade, Northcote, was promoted for 1907–08, bringing the competition's size to twelve clubs. Melbourne finally joined the competition in 1914–15, under special rules allowing it to draw players from anywhere but with a limit on how many could be drawn from any single other club's district.^[4]

The uneven number of teams necessitated a bye, which remained until 1929/30 when the VCA Colts team comprising under-22s across all districts was included.^[5] The Colts team competed for eleven seasons but disbanded during World War II. Matches continued through the war (although they were not for points) and Footscray was admitted for 1948–49, which again eliminated the bye.

From the 1970s onwards, there was consistent expansion of the competition into the outer suburbs. This first occurred with the promotion of two clubs representing outer-suburban areas, Ringwood and Waverley, from Sub-District in 1974–75. Eighteen sides have participated since 1993–94 when teams from Geelong and Frankston Peninsula were admitted. Through this period, there were also relocations of almost half of the existing clubs from their original inner-suburban grounds to new outer-suburban homes.

Since 1909–10, the premiership has been decided on the basis of a finals series played after the regular season. This comprised four teams throughout most of its history, before being increased to a final six in 1997–98 season, and later to a final eight.

Colours	Club	Emblem	Formed	Home ground	1st XI titles	First competed	Note
	Camberwell	Magpies	1906	Camberwell Sports Ground, Camberwell	4	1906–07	Inaugural club (Collingwood); amalgamated with Camberwell (Sub-District) in 1996–97
	Carlton	Blues	1864	Princes Park, Carlton North	11	1906–07	Inaugural club
	Casey-South Melbourne	Swans	1862	Casey Fields, Cranbourne East	3	1906–07	Inaugural club (South Melbourne), relocated and renamed Casey-South Melbourne in 2005–06
	Dandenong	Panthers	1908	Shepley Oval, Dandenong	3	1974–75	Promoted from Sub-District in 1974–75 as Waverley; amalgamated with and moved to Dandenong (Sub-District) in 1989–90 as Waverley-Dandenong; renamed Dandenong-Waverley in 1992–93; renamed Dandenong in 1994–95
	Essendon	Bombers	1872	Windy Hill, Essendon	2	1906–07	Inaugural club
	Fitzroy Doncaster	Lions	1861	Schramm's Reserve, Doncaster	10	1906–07	Inaugural club (Fitzroy); amalgamated with Doncaster (Sub-District) in 1986–87
	Footscray	Bulldogs	1883	Merv Hughes Oval, Footscray	2	1948–49	Promoted from Sub-District in 1948; known as Footscray-Victoria University from 2000-01 until 2003–04, then as Footscray-Edgewater from 2004–05 until 2016–17
	Frankston Peninsula	Heat	1880	AH Butler Oval, Frankston	0	1993–94	Promoted from Sub-District in 1993–94
	Geelong	Cats	1993	Kardinia Park, Geelong	0	1993–94	Promoted from Sub-District in 1993–94
	Greenvale	Kangaroos		Greenvale Recreation Reserve, Greenvale	0	1906–07	Inaugural club (North Melbourne); temporarily amalgamated with Geelong (sub-district) as North Melbourne–Geelong from 1985 to 1986 until 1987–88; amalgamated with and moved to Greenvale in 2013–14[6]
	Kingston Hawthorn	Hawks	1860	Walter Galt Reserve, Parkdale	9	1906–07	Inaugural club (East Melbourne); amalgamated with and moved to Hawthorn (Sub-District) in 1921–22 as Hawthorn-East Melbourne; moved to Waverley in 1989-90 and renamed Hawthorn-Waverley in 1994–95; amalgamated with Monash University (Sub-District) in 2001–02 as Hawthorn-Monash University and moved to the Monash University Sports Complex in Clayton in 2004; amalgamated with Kingston Saints (Sub-District) in 2015–16 and moved to Parkdale as Kingston Hawthorn.
	Melbourne	Demons	1838	Albert Cricket Ground, Melbourne	22	1906–07	Inaugural club, but ineligible for the premiership until 1914–15
	Melbourne University	Students	1856	University of Melbourne campus, Parkville	3	1906–07	Inaugural club, also known as University
	Northcote	Dragons		Bill Lawry Oval, Northcote	5	1907–08	Promoted from Sub-District 1907–08
	Prahran	True Blues		Toorak Park, Armadale	8	1906–07	Inaugural club (Hawksburn); renamed Prahran in 1907–08.
	Richmond	Tigers	1854	Central Reserve, Glen Waverley	6	1906–07	Inaugural club (Richmond); relocated to Glen Waverley in 2010–11, and changed its trading name to Monash Tigers from 2013–14 until 2019-20 (although the club was legally still known as Richmond). The 2020/21 season saw the club return to the "Richmond Cricket Club" name
	Ringwood	Rams		Jubilee Park, Ringwood	3	1974–75	Promoted from Sub-District 1974
	St Kilda	Saints	1855	Junction Oval, St Kilda	18	1906–07	Inaugural club

Premierships correct to the end of 2022/23 season.

Two-day/All forms

One-day/White-ball

Twenty-20/White-ball

First presented in 1972–73, the award for the best player of the season is named after Jack Ryder, the former Australian captain who had a long and distinguished career with Collingwood.

Presented in season 2001–02 under the name of Cricket Victoria Medal, the John Scholes medal is awarded to the best player in the Victorian Premier Cricket 1st XI final. The name was changed for the 2003–04 season.^[9]

• Cricket in Australia
• Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association

• List of 1st XI premiers
• Official website