No change to GCA fixtures as rain washes away third-straight week

THE GCA has made a call on the fixture after rain forced the abandonment of play for a third-straight week.

Cricket GCA1: North Geelong v Lara. Rain delay players waiting for the game to re start Picture: Mark Wilson

GEELONG Cricket Association officials insist the current fixtures will remain unchanged, despite heavy rain washing away matches for a third-straight week.

Local clubs across the region were peeling back the covers on Thursday morning to provide their turf wickets with a much-needed drink of water after play was abandoned shortly before 9am.

The GCA made the necessary call to cancel all senior turf and hard-wicket matches for Saturday with a call to be made on Sunday’s Barwon Women’s Cricket Competition in the coming hours.

“We were no chance at all,” GCA vice-president Sam Hall conceded.

“There’s a few guys on the grounds committee and they’ve all got designated grounds that they have been monitoring and the majority are unplayable right now.

GCA has been called off again this week.

“There’s no way they would be ready to go on Saturday and we’ve still got a heap of rain forecast. I think nearly every ground in Geelong would be unplayable on Saturday.”

The BWCC is also likely to be cancelled, more heavy rain forecast.

“A decision hasn’t been made for the women’s cricket on turf, that’s still in the works,” Hall said.

“They are discussing that right at this moment, but that’s also looking unlikely. A few clubs who have women’s games might be keeping the covers on right now, but I would consider it’s not very likely they will play either.”

Hall said he hoped the decision to cancel matches for this weekend would ultimately help turf clubs prepare squares for the following week.

“The reason we have decided to right this week off now is it gives us a chance to get the pitches ready for the following week,” he said.

“The squares have been under cover for the last two weeks, so they’re not in great nick. So if the majority of clubs can get the covers off today and give their squares a good drink, it will hopefully help for next week.

It’s the third-straight week of no GCA cricket. Picture: Mark Wilson

“So that was part of the thinking (to cancel this round). Most of the pitches are unplayable now anyway, but we’re hoping by calling it now that it gives us a chance for the following week.”

With three matches lost to weather in GCA1, GCA2 and GCA3, as well as the opening two rounds of GCA4 abandoned, GCA officials have been locked in discussions about the fixture.

But Hall said no decision had been made to restructure the draw.

“At the moment we’re sticking with the original fixture and there’s no change to that,” he said.

“We have been doing a bit of thinking. We’re always trying to do a bit of forward thinking, and it could be the case that we might have to do something if it ends up being four or five weeks off, but at this stage I don’t think there’s any need to panic.

“We’ve had some off the cuff conversations, but at the moment we’re not acting on anything.”

Hall admitted he was disappointed to lose another round of matches to poor weather on the back of successive Covid-ravaged seasons.

“We started early in November last season and we’ll start in late October this year even without Covid,” Hall said.

“It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing much you can do about the weather. It’s something that we can’t control.”

GCA state of play as clubs prepare for midweek downpour

North Geelong star Sam Hall believes there are concerns over the state of play for the Geelong Cricket Association, as the league faces a third straight washed out week to start the season.

No games have gone ahead in the opening two rounds of the GCA, while it is likely the third round gets called off with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting about 70mm of rain across Wednesday and Thursday.

Hall, who sits on the GCA committee, said clubs were preparing their wickets to be fully covered before the rain hits.

“There’s definitely concerns about if we can get games to go ahead this week,” he said.

No games have gone ahead in the opening two rounds of the GCA, while it is likely the third round gets called off with about 70mm of rain predicted on Wednesday and Thursday. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“We’re all pretty keen on games of cricket being played, and the weather on Friday and Saturday is not too bad so we’re hoping we can get some sun onto the pitches then.

“There’s been communication with the clubs to get the pitches as ready as they can before the rain starts, then we’ll monitor the grounds to see if we can get the games to go ahead.”

The BPCA has played both of its opening two rounds this season, with just six games abandoned across the opening two rounds in the five different hard-wicket divisions.

It is unlikely any turf games go ahead with 70mm of rain expected across Wednesday and Thursday. Picture: Mark Wilson

Hall said each division would need a majority of games able to go ahead to play the round, giving the synthetic-dominant GCA4 competition a chance to go ahead.

“It’s a bit of a commonsense approach we’ll take with it,” he said.

GCA has been called off again this week.

“If there are too many games that we can’t get pitches right for, even if there’s a couple of grounds that aren’t completely right then we’ll put a line through it.

“It’s a bit unfair on the grounds that can’t get up if we play one game a division.

“GCA4 will absolutely play if we can get on the ground, hopefully Friday and Saturday there’s not much rain so they can go ahead because they’re a bit easier to get right after some rain.”

Originally published as No change to GCA fixtures as rain washes away third-straight week