GCA weather update: Play abandoned for a fifth straight week, set to lose a sixth if forecast is correct
Geelong Cricket Association officials are concerned they may need to abandon yet another round after rain washed away a fifth consecutive week.
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GEELONG Cricket Association officials are concerned they may need to abandon yet another round after rain washed away a fifth consecutive week.
A call was made on Thursday afternoon to abandon all senior cricket after significant rainfall on Tuesday wiped out a large number of grounds, but GCA vice president Sam Hall said he was worried looking ahead.
“There’s definite concern for us, there’s just so much consistent rain,” he said.
“The outfields need drying weather, and the next four or five days are not great.
“The wind is helpful for that, but there’s just no sunshine coming up that will dry out the grounds.
“I’ve walked across a number of different grounds, they’re so soft and they’re squelching underfoot.
“We couldn’t even walk on the North Geelong ground, it was so wet.”
It has been the worst start to a season since 2010/11, when only one game before December was completed.
Teams played in round 1’s one day match, before missing another one-dayer and could not complete any of the next three two-day matches.
Local council could not get mowers onto the grounds around Geelong in the lead up to the round, and turf wickets will not get rollers onto the squares.
“The grounds are too waterlogged, the council can’t get onto the fields to mow because it’s just too soft,” he said.
“Next week is now a bit iffy, the pitches are really soft, the squares are soft and we can’t get rollers onto the grounds at the moment.
“It’s a bit of a wait and see, but it’s concerning with the forecast.
“We take data from all the grounds and keep it in a spreadsheet, and after speaking with all the clubs everyone is at the bottom end of the scale, so we weren’t really close to playing.”
It was set to be the GCA’s first round since changes were made to the fixture, with GCA1 and GCA2 set to play seven two-day games and three one-day matches, while the lower two grades were set to play just one-day fixtures.
Hall said there had not been any discussion about changing the fixture again, but it might be revisited if more games are missed.
“The fixture only just changed, so we’re not looking at changing it again yet,” he said.
“We have not got to see how it works, maybe this time next week if we miss again then it’s a conversation.”
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Originally published as GCA weather update: Play abandoned for a fifth straight week, set to lose a sixth if forecast is correct
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