LIAM DURKIN
CRICKET
LVDCL
By LIAM DURKIN
CLUB secretaries were the only winners in the Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League on
Saturday.
With the first round of matches across the LVDCL abandoned, clubs at least saved money on balls, while secretaries did not have to chase any captains for scores.
The dreaded question of “can you remember who caught this bloke?” is surely the bane of all cricket administrators’ existence.
Perhaps last Saturday was a good one to miss, as issues with MyCricket saw the site eventually crash, bringing about chaos in the entire local cricketing community.
The LVDCL made the decision to abandon the first round on Friday night, after heavy downpours across the region left the majority of grounds unplayable.
By all reports, some clubs struggled to even get the roller onto the outfield let alone the square without it sinking.
With the LVDCL fixture already at capacity up until Christmas, with 12 teams playing one day games across 11 weeks, it appears certain any one day game abandoned will not be rescheduled.
The LVDCL will move into two dayers after the break.
Despite games not going ahead, there was still a few talking points as team selections were made public in the lead-up.
Churchill looked a vastly different side to the one that last took the field in the Premier A Grand Final.
The Cobras only had six of its grand final side selected, owing mainly to injuries to Brendan
Mason, Ryan Harvey and Matt Harvey. Centrals did not look hugely different from six months ago, although fast bowling all-rounder Lachlan Patterson played for Rovers in the
Traralgon District Cricket Association at the weekend.
Some talk surrounding Centrals potentially getting Cody Edmondstone this season did the
rounds toward the end of 2021/22.
The gun batsman, who has family ties to the club and plays first grade district cricket in Adelaide, played a one-off game for the Lions last season.
Bizarrely, he went from facing the likes of Chadd Sayers to Trafalgar’s concrete kings attack in the space of a fortnight.
He needed to bat almost two metres out of his crease in order to face a pace similar to what he was accustomed to.
Elsewhere, Mirboo North looked immediately stronger on paper, with returning players Brett Pedlow, Dale Banks and Will Cheatley notable inclusions.
Latrobe appeared relatively similar to last season, although club stalwart Steven Freshwater was listed, after having not played for two seasons.
Raiders welcomed back English import George Cheshire, while Trafalgar had a couple of
youngsters in Olly Hennessy and Owen McLeodAgland in the line-up.
Morwell’s side didn’t have too many changes, albeit with a couple of English recruits. Their
opponents Jeerlang-Boolarra looked a very different team from last season, with a number of imports with extremely long surnames.
Moe had six of its premiership XI selected, and was set to battle Willow Grove making their A Grade debut.
Traralgon West and CATS must have been confident a washout was coming, as they did not even bother putting their team in.
It will be fingers and toes crossed the LVDCL can get underway this Saturday.
LVDCL Round 2 fixture: Raiders v Mirboo North, Morwell v Centrals, Latrobe v Jeeralang-Boolarra, Churchill v Trafalgar, Traralgon West v Moe, Willow Grove v CATS (at Yallourn North).
