XAVIER Crone and Tayla Vlaeminck have again won places in Victoria’s teams for the 2018-19 domestic season.
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Their selection comes as Cricket Victoria breaks from tradition and ceases to use the Bushrangers and VicSpirit team names.
The teams will simply be known as the Victorian men’s and women’s cricket teams.
Cricket Victoria said the change in names has been made to simplify the number of elite cricket brands in Victoria.
Crone is in his second-year as a fully-fledged squad member, after initially being rookie contracted in 2016-17.
The former Strathfieldsaye paceman was named captain of Victoria’s Future League team earlier this year for a February clash against the ACT.
Vlaeminck’s selection follows her inclusion in the recent Australian under-19 tour to South Africa.
She played a starring role with bat and ball as the Australians won their inaugural overseas series.
Vlaeminck bagged 6-27 off 7.5 overs, and also made 21, against South Africa in the final of the South Africa Emerging Women Tri-Series last month.
Vlaeminck earned player of the match for her performance in Australia’s 21-run win.
Her six wickets featured two bowled, two lbw and two caught.
Cricket Victoria general manager of cricket operations Shaun Graf said her return would benefit the squad both on and off field.
“Meg is arguably the world’s best player and her absence last season had a natural impact on our batting depth, however this did help provide an opportunity for several of our younger players to debut which was invaluable,” said Graf .
“Although our win/loss ratio was naturally disappointing, I’m very pleased with the level of individual development that took place.
“Seeing Sophie Molineux earn a national contract plus Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland and Nicole Faltum included in the recent Under-19 Australian tour to South Africa was a positive indication of the direction we’re heading in.”
The men’s squad will have several new faces following the departure of recent regulars John Hastings, who retired during the JLT One-Day Cup Series, and spinner Fahwad Ahmed and all-rounder Dan Christian.
Ahmed and Christian were among seven players not offered contracts along with James Muirhead, Blake Thomson, Guy Walker, Jackson Koop and Tom O’Donnell.