Due to a lack of numbers, the association has pulled the pin and will not send a side to the competition. 

The association will field under-13 and under-15 sides for their respective carnivals – the under-15 competition is held in Horsham while the under-13 carnival is in Portland. Horsham Cricket Association secretary Darren Chesterfield said it was hugely disappointing not to be able to send a team to Warrnambool.

“It is disappointing but it’s just the nature of cricket in the holidays,” he said.

“Young people have lots of opportunities to do things. We had about seven or eight kids who were interested and that’s short of the 12 or so we need.”

Mr Chesterfield said the association has struggled to field teams in the past but has managed to send teams in recent years. 

“We have been there more often than we haven’t, and the last two years we have had teams compete in Warrnambool,” he said. “Last year we would have sent the bare minimum and two of them were overage kids. You need to be careful with sending overage kids and it’s not in the nature of the competition to have those overagers dominate, so we didn’t really want to call on those again this season.

“Three boys from the HCA will play for Portland who have a similar numbers problem. It’s good that they will still be able to play some cricket.”

Despite a continued decline in under-17 cricket numbers, Mr Chesterfield said there were positive signs in the younger age groups. 

“We had 25 boys try-out for the under-15s and just over 20 try-out for under-13s, so there are no issues getting teams for those competitions,” he said. “We have faith that with so many boys trying out for the under-15s the problem with the under-17s will be a cyclical thing.”