Premier cricket called off

Premier cricket officials have decided to call off play for this weekend.

Victorian Premier Cricket officials have decided to call off the action this weekend following heavy rainfalls on Friday morning.

The league released a statement just after midday on Friday with the decision to call of all men’s matches.

“Due to the rainfall received overnight and reports from clubs on the status of their grounds, Victorian Premier Cricket has made the decision to abandon play in all Men‘s Competition Matches scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday,” the statement said.

“With regards to the Women‘s Competition, clubs that are fixtured to host matches on Sunday are to contact the Premier Cricket Department by 2pm Saturday with ground updates for a call to be made no later than 4pm Saturday on Sunday play.”

Officials had relocated some matches and were preparing for play to go ahead on Thursday afternoon but they were waiting on ground updates from clubs on Friday before making a call.

“At this stage we are planning to go ahead, but more information is certainly required before we press the go button and ask players to report to grounds,” the official said on Thursday afternoon.

Footscray’s Dylan Brasher and Daniel Sartori during the Premier Cricket match between Footscray and Essendon at Merv Hughes Oval. Picture:Andy Brownbill

Northcote’s Bill Lawry Oval, Footscray’s Merv Hughes Oval and Essendon’s Windy Hill were ruled out of action for the opening game of the season on Thursday.

This resulted in the three second XI matches being moved to Sunday.

A league official said the reports received from clubs on third and fourth XI grounds were generally positive as many have had less use compared to first and second XI grounds during winter.

The rain on Friday morning however resulted in the final decision to call of play for all grades this weekend.