VSDCA 2024-25: Opening day cancelled with 19 grounds not ready for play
The Victorian Subbies season has been delayed, with grounds not ready. Clubs are now pushing even harder to move the season back.
Local Sport
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Unprepared wickets and damp grounds have forced the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association to delay the start of its 2024-25 season by a week.
The association announced on Tuesday it had cancelled Saturday’s opening day.
Round 1 was scheduled as a two-day match. It will now become a one-dayer on October 12.
“We’ve got 19 grounds out, out of 32,’’ association CEO Ken Hilton said on Tuesday.
“We’ve got another seven clubs that haven’t responded but four of those clubs, their grounds were very doubtful.
“So we had a board meeting last night and we decided to convert round one into a one-day game on October 12 and give the councils an extra week to get the wickets prepared.’’
While it leaves cricketers more time to prepare, many are frustrated and disappointed they won’t be out there on the first Saturday in October.
A delayed start has become common in Subbies in the past decade and this latest delayed start adds fuel to club presidents’ push to officially shift the season back by a week or two.
“We’ve been saying for years they should change it to the middle of October,’’ Port Melbourne president Chris Sewell said.
“This will be probably be seven or eight in a row that we haven’t played on the first day.
“If we start in the middle of October when the weather is a little bit better, we’ve got a chance of getting on in round one.’’
Sewell, though, commended the association for scheduling Round 1 as a two-day match this season.
“They were smart how they did it this year because historically it’s always been a one dayer,’’ he said.
“That would have meant we’d have to play a catch up day on a Sunday which is pretty hard to do with players’ commitments and families and that kind of thing.’’
Hilton said the changeover from football to cricket was always tight, with councils racing the clock to prepare grounds in time.
“It’s something that we perhaps might have to talk to Cricket Victoria about going forward,’’ Hilton said.
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