A league that includes clubs from both sides of the Victorian-NSW border, talks with both state cricketing bodies have concluded the league will be able to start in about three weeks' time with all games needing to be played at grounds in NSW.
With the league meeting next week to officially iron out all the details to start the season, association president Anthony Holmes gave a brief update on where things currently stand.
“We can go and play cricket over in NSW from the 16th of October, but everybody that plays over there must be double jabbed,” Holmes said.
“In Victoria, they won’t be able to play until the 6th or 13th of November when they expect to get to 80 per cent double dose, they are still working through it, but by the sounds of it you won’t need to be double jabbed to play, but there is still a bit to come on that as they are a little bit behind NSW.
“As soon as NSW hits that 90 per cent mark then you won’t have to be double jabbed to play and those are the rules we have been told and we will be having a meeting next Wednesday night to decide on exactly what we are doing.”
Shaping up for what is going to be an incredibly unusual way to start the season, Holmes explained what the opening round fixtures might look like with every team playing at venues in NSW.
“If we are going to start cricket in NSW I would say we are probably looking at starting with a Twenty20 format over there before getting into the one-day competition following that,” he said.
“But again, without knowing what the clubs are thinking, we aren’t too sure on how it might look at the beginning of the season — if clubs are bit worried that they won’t have players available due to not being double vaxxed then that Twenty20 competition is a great way for the people that are jabbed to have some sort of cricket to play.”
When it comes to the availability of grounds in NSW and the logistics of getting the Victorian teams across the border to play, he said the league was confident it could get the season up and running without a hitch.
“There are two grounds at Barooga, which we can look at using, and there is actually three grounds over at Deniliquin, along with the likes of Tocumwal, Finley and Berrigan, so I think there are plenty of grounds to be able to get the Victorian sides over,” he said.
“Both Cricket Victoria and Cricket NSW have said that while there is the border bubble open there is no dramas. Jerilderie is really the only problem because they are still in the Murrumbidgee Council and that is still a red zone, so we might have to look at them only playing in NSW until that opens up a bit.”
Starting the season later than usual, the association might need to get creative with its schedule as it was still committed to a grand final date in mid-March.
Holmes explained how that revised fixture might look.
“At the moment I could see that we play enough one-dayers that everyone plays each other once and then making a decision before we get to that point about what will happen after that,” he said.
“I would say we are only going to make a draw that goes until everybody plays each other once and then we will decide whether we continue with one-dayers or go to two days heading into finals.”
As players finally prepare to once again return to the field, Holmes expressed his excitement following what has been a tough period for everybody in the region.
“I think it’s fantastic and I have been receiving phone calls from people saying just how keen they are to get back out there and play sport again,’’ he said.
“Their football season got stopped on them and we are just glad that it is looking like everything can go ahead and being a mixture of both Victoria and NSW we can get started a bit earlier.”
