Victorian Premier Cricket, country competitions forced to undergo changes

Community sporting officials are fighting to keep seasons alive across Victoria with one cricket league missing more than 200 players who are stuck in isolation.

Community sport again finds itself in a battle to keep seasons running as Covid continues to wreak havoc in Victoria.

Across the state, cricket competitions have been forced to cancel or postpone weekend matches due to some clubs being unable to field teams.

Cricket Victoria‘s general manager of premier cricket Liam Murphy said more than 200 players in the men’s and women’s competition were isolating as a result of positive cases, close contacts or delays in test results.

It has meant all men‘s fourth XI and women’s third XI games which were scheduled to be played this weekend have been abandoned.

Murphy said with cases numbers continuing to climb it would be a “week to week” scenario for officials.

“We deemed it to be the most sensible decision after all of the feedback we received from our clubs,” he said.

“On top of the normal availability issues clubs might face at this time of year, we were left in a precarious position.

“For us it’s about creating an environment where clubs can continue to play games and serious credit needs to go to the volunteers who have put in so much of their own time to keep the season going.

“Our intention is to always play as many games as possible.

“We will continue to work closely with our clubs throughout the back half of the season.”

Some country leagues have extended their Christmas break for at least another week including the Goulburn Murray and Shepparton competitions.

Meanwhile, the Bendigo District will have another two weekends away from the pitch.

“It’s a really difficult situation to manage,” Cricket Shepparton president David D’Elia said.

“If we played this weekend we would have had up to four clubs with C Grade players in the top team which isn’t fair and safety was also an issue.

“We’re going to be making decisions each week as things stand.”

Lawn bowlers across the state are also preparing to be impacted as they look forward to a return to the greens.

Paul Moller, president of the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields bowls region, said competition would resume for Bendigo’s division one clubs on Saturday as planned.

“We only have five players directly impacted but we’re lucky this week because there are only a handful of teams playing,” he said.

“But we’ve informed our clubs that moving forward, they will need to forfeit the lower grades if they are unable to field a team.

“Because bowls is associated as an older person’s game we will continue to stress to our members about the importance of doing the right thing.

“We don’t want to stop playing because bowling clubs are like families for so many people and they play an important role in their lives.”

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