Ten teams will take part in the shortened four-day carnival from Tuesday to Friday.

The addition of a combined West Wimmera and Kaniva team means that there will be no byes in this season’s carnival but Monday’s public holiday means there will only be three preliminary rounds before the final. Horsham Cricket Association secretary Darren Chesterfield said the circumstances made it a difficult draw to put together.

“It’s great that we have an even amount of teams because it means that everyone is playing a game of cricket each day,” he said.

Games will be played on turf at Horsham City Oval, Dudley Cornell Park and Sunnyside with remaining fixtures to be played on synthetic wickets at Taylors Lake and Horsham College.

“Unfortunately we have a couple of turf wickets unavailable this season,” Chesterfield said. 

“We’ll have two games on hard wickets each day, which is not ideal but there is not much we can do about that.”

The 2017 country week carnival saw every game played on turf except for the final when overnight rains left Horsham City Oval unplayable on the Friday.

Chesterfield said the weather was looking good for the week and that it should not impact the carnival.

“The warmest day should be Friday,” he said. “It doesn’t look like there was any sign of rain so it should be perfect weather for cricket.”

Warrnambool are expected to send strong teams to the carnival once again.

“Hamilton are usually there abouts as well,” Chesterfield said. 

“Mt Gambier is normally an interesting one, they’ll have some kids who can’t play because there are South Australian state championships on.”

The carnival will attract more than 100 cricketers as well as families and team support staff to town. Chesterfield said he looked forward to seeing everyone enjoy themselves during the week.

“It’s always good for juniors to get the opportunity to play against a higher standard than they might normally do,” he said.

Warrnambool Gold v Mount Gambier at Horsham City Oval (Turf)

Portland v Colac  at DudleyCornell (Turf) 

South West  v Hamilton at Taylors Lake (Hard) 

Horsham v West Wimmera at Sunnyside (Turf) 

Wimmera-Mallee v Warrnambool Blue Horsham College  (Hard)

Warrnambool Blue v West Wimmera at Horsham City Oval (Turf)

Mount Gambier v Wimmera-Mallee at Taylors Lake (Hard) 

Colac v South West at Horsham College (Hard)

Hamilton DCA v Warrnambool Gold Sunnyside (Turf)

Horsham CA v Portland Cornell Park (Turf)

Warrnambool Gold v South West at Horsham City Oval (Turf)

Portland v Warrnambool Blue at Dudley Cornell (Turf) 

Horsham v Colac at Taylors Lake (Hard) 

West Wimmera v Mount Gambier at Horsham College (Hard)

Wimmera-Mallee v Hamilton Sunnyside (Turf) 

Grand final to be played between first and second placed teams at at Horsham City Oval.

Remaining eight teams to face off at Dudley Cornell, Taylors Lake, Horsham College and Sunnyside to determine final placings.