Victorian coach Greg Shipperd concedes his squad's depth has been severely tested by injury and national selection commitments ahead of the Bushrangers' opening home match of the season against Tasmania on Saturday in the Ford Ranger Cup.
Shipperd's confident, however, that the reinforcements are up to the task.
The Vics have made two changes to the team that defeated South Australia by five wickets at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, including hard-hitting left-handed batsman and former Australian Under-19 captain Michael Hill, and debutant all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for the injured Damien Wright and Andrew McDonald, who has joined the national one-day squad in India.
On paper at least, the Bushrangers' attack is poorer for the absence of McDonald, Peter Siddle (side strain), Wright (hamstring), Clinton McKay (national duty), James Pattinson (broken finger), John Holland (national duty) and Dirk Nannes, who is expected to be sidelined for up to four weeks because of hamstring-related inflammation in a tendon behind his knee.
"We are limited with our bowling and ... our depth is tested, but something positive will come out of it," said Shipperd after training at the MCG on Friday.
"We still think that we can give an excellent account of ourselves."
"We knew that with the Champions League and, then knowing that the whole season is concertinaed into a smaller time frame, that there would be some physical challenges for our group."
"The thing that certainly caused our depth to be challenged is the fact that we've got four players on Australian duty which is a wonderful thing and something that we've looked forward to for a long time."
"Our response to that is blooding new players or players that have been waiting patiently for their opportunity."
Shipperd said it's likely that Rob Quiney, Michael Hussey, Brad Hodge and Hill will need to cobble together 10 overs between them against Tassie in support of the only three quicks left standing - Shane Harwood, Darren Pattinson and John Hastings - and leggie Bryce McGain who, by his own admission, was a bit rusty first-up in the Shield against the Redbacks.
"He was getting better as the game was finishing so we expect he'll draw some confidence from that and, back on the MCG where I think it will turn, he'll jump up a gear, I'm sure," said Shipperd of McGain.
Shipperd said he wasn't swayed by Tassie's heavy Shield and Ford Ranger Cup losses to Queensland over the past week which prompted skipper George Bailey to declare that his batsmen were playing without heart.
"Always be wary of the wounded Tiger," warned Shipperd.
"They're a quality side and a talented team and in this form of the game they've always represented themselves very well."
While unable to win a place in the Shield line-up, left-arm orthodox spinner Xavier Doherty has been a standout for the Tigers in both of their FRC matches so far this season, claiming 3-46 first-up against South Australia then 3-25 against the Bulls.
Victorian Bushrangers squad: David Hussey (captain), Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Michael Hill, Brad Hodge, Glenn Maxwell, Bryce McGain, Darren Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Chris Rogers, Matthew Wade (12th man to be named before the match)