CRICKET
CLV
By LIAM DURKIN
DAMNED if you do, damned if you don’t.
Cricket Latrobe Valley officials were made to look somewhat foolish after cancelling the opening round of the season at the weekend, only to see every other league in Gippsland go ahead.
While skies cleared by Saturday, the decision was made to abandon Round 1 following heavy rain last week, leaving curators with very little time to prepare adequate wickets.
The league made the call last Friday night, which at least gave players the chance to get away for the weekend.
With races at Flemington on Saturday, it is doubtful anyone really minded not playing cricket.
Regardless, the situation may have again reinforced calls for a later starting date given the winter sports season only finished a fortnight ago.
Volunteer-run cricket clubs are generally scrambling at this time of year, and would certainly welcome more time to have everything in order.
Players meanwhile often take a few weeks to get fully into ‘cricket mode’.
A football preseason goes for five months. A cricket ‘preseason’ often commences five minutes before the first game.
It is possible to start a cricket season in November and still get a full allotment of games in, provided players are prepared to play a few Saturday/Sunday rounds.
Given those serious about their cricket would put up their hand to play Sunday GCL, and juniors often play Sundays anyway, it doesn’t seem an overly unreasonable proposition.
There was some backlash over the cancellation, especially given Saturday was bathed in mid-20s sunshine. The league’s board has since declared lower grades playing on hard wickets will go ahead in the event of adverse weather cancelling the all-turf higher grades.
Dare I say it, hard decks have benefits.
If you are playing cricket in Victoria, you are going to encounter poor weather. Hard decks at least allow you to play through, and at grade level, surely that is why people pay their subs – to play.
CLV will hope for better weather this weekend, to allow its all-turf competition to get underway.
The Premier A match between Churchill and Morwell offers intrigue, to see how the Cobras fare upon promotion. The same applies to A Grade premier Imperials taking on Centrals.
Pundits may also get an early indication as to whether or not there will be a sizeable gap in the A Grade competition when Raiders and CATS (both relegated) take on Willow Grove and Traralgon West respectively.
New Raiders recruit Keenan Hughes could unleash some damage with the new ball, while Callum Stewart is sure to provide a handful darting it around off the seam against the Eagles.
