CRICKET
GCL
By LIAM DURKIN
REPRESENTATIVE cricket commences this Sunday (October 12).
The Gippsland Cricket League will again run a senior men, senior women, under 18, under 15 and under 13 competition this season.
Players selected for Cricket Latrobe Valley are set to compete against Sale-Maffra Cricket Association, Warragul District Cricket Association, Bairnsdale Cricket Association and Leongatha District Cricket Association.
While the under 18s begin this Sunday with a standalone game between Sale-Maffra and Leongatha, the bulk of GCL action does not commence until next week.
The under 18s play two separate competitions – for the one day trophy and the twenty20 Cameron White Cup, named after the Bairnsdale local and former Australian cricketer.
The remaining grades commence the following week, on Sunday, October 26.
Last season was largely hit-and-miss for GCL.
Two of CLV’s four senior men’s games were abandoned, making for an inequitable competition given other teams played twice as many matches.
Traditional powerhouse Sale-Maffra won the premiership, defeating Bairnsdale with ease.
CLV, coming off a title-winning 2023/24 season, lost both its matches to Warragul and Sale-Maffra respectively.
The Round 1 game against Warragul saw the Wild Dogs post 263 at Fred King Oval.
CLV skipper Nat Freitag took 3/33, Jake Littleton 2/25 and Todd Mann 2/35.
The home team’s innings never really took off, bundled out for 186.
Jordan Matthews played well for an unbeaten 61, while Conor Robson (37) and Littleton (25) also chipped in.
CLV didn’t get on the park again until Round 4, owing to abandonments in rounds two and three against Leongatha and Bairnsdale.
A competitive match against Sale-Maffra saw CLV fall short by 42 runs.
Chasing 186 at College Oval, the visitors were dismissed for 142.
In tricky conditions, Brett Chapman made 37 off 91 balls, and Layteen Smith provided some fireworks at Number 11, slapping 30 off 23.
Wickets were shared earlier in the day between Jimmy Pryde (3/29), Ben Rivers (3/36) and Campbell Peavey (2/32).
CLV did not send a team to Country Week last season, although it was not on its lonesome there.
The jury has been out on the future of Country Week, with many arguing the week-long trek to Melbourne has been dying a slow death for close to a decade.
Where previously, the main attraction was to showcase a league on the city stage and for local players to perhaps court the attention of Premier clubs, the advent of live streaming now means pundits can see the best players at local level from the comfort of an office.
A modernised version of Country Week has been floated, with one idea to bring the week to regions such as Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland for a ‘festival of cricket’.
New CLV president Evan Sheekey had previously confirmed the league was committed to representative cricket provided it was facilitated properly.
“Most clubs and players want country week, so the board will work to put the right people in those positions,” he said in June.
“(It’s) definitely something we’ve got to work towards. It’s about finding the right leader, the one that wants to be there and having the players that want to make themselves committed for that (representative cricket on Sundays).
“I know when I was playing GCL it was an honour, and that’s what we’ve got to try and get it back to.
“With being the second-biggest league in country Victoria, we should be at Provincial at Country Week (the highest grade), but it all depends on the commitment from the players.
“We’ll put it out, get a manager, get a captain, experienced players that want to go, and get the best side that we can get, we’re not going to go half-asked and mediocre.”
CLV plays Bairnsdale in Round 1 of this GCL campaign.
