THE Horsham Cricket Association has confirmed the number of teams in its three senior grades, while some other changes are yet to be confirmed.
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Two senior West Wimmera teams will be introduced into senior grades at this stage, with A and B Grade teams.
The association’s secretary Darren Chesterfield said there was still a chance for West Wimmera to enter in C Grade if numbers permit.
“I can’t judge their talent, but I reckon just being young and enthusiastic, you wouldn’t want to underestimate their abilities,” Mr Chesterfield said.
“It will be good for cricket in the Wimmera and good for cricket at Nhill. It’s an encouraging sign because they are excited for it.”
West Wimmera is expected to play games both at Nhill’s Davis Park and also at Jeparit.
The association will field six teams in A Grade, with Blackheath-Dimboola dropping into B Grade.
There will be eight teams in B Grade and seven in C Grade, with the Horsham Saints fielding one C Grade team compared to two last season.
“I think we should be satisfied with the numbers and with the new club coming that adds some depth,” Mr Chesterfield said.
The association is also considering changing the junior competitions from under-12s, under-14s and under-16.5s to under-13s, under-15s and under-17.5s.
“The proposal was to change the under-12s to under-13s and make it more of a competition and play along Cricket Australia guidelines,” Mr Chesterfield said.
“Under-14s would become under-15s and be played in the same way and under-16.5s would become under-17.5s and become Twenty20 cricket in its entirety.
“We thought it might inspire some people on the perimeter of wanting to play and also because the state championships are heading towards Twenty20 cricket so we wanted to replicate that. We are waiting on confirmation from clubs on that.”
The association will have a board meeting prior to the season starting to confirm any potential changes.
The season starts on October 13 for A and B Grade and October 20 for C Grade and juniors.
Mr Chesterfield confirmed the A Grade grand final would be brought back to 100 overs for each innings to 75 overs, while there is likely to be two days of Twenty20 cricket for A and B Grade.
The Twenty20 games would count towards the one-day ladder and also the overall ladder.
The association is also likely to pass a by-law allowing clubs to abandon games on a Friday morning if the forecast temperature for the Saturday is above 41 degrees.
“At the moment we decide on Saturday morning at 8am to cancel a game if it’s going to be higher than 41 degrees,” Mr Chesterfield said.
“We are going to change that and make it 24 hours earlier to give people more time. That should make it a bit easier. It’s not locked in yet but we will decide that at a board meeting shortly.”
