MA Connolly Cup semi-finals pushed back a week

Northern Inland Cricket Council’s two MA Connolly Cup semi-finals have both been pushed back a week from this Sunday, February 13, to Sunday, February 20.

Collins Park will still play host to the Narrabri District Cricket Association first XI’s playoff against Gwydir that day, while the Armidale Bushrangers will host Quirindi at Lambert Park.

NICC advised the NDCA of that change on Monday, which was made due to the Northern Inland Bolters qualifying for the Plan B Regional Bash finals, which will be played on Monday in Sydney.

NICC said it had become necessary to put the scheduled semi-finals and grand final back one week as most teams in the semi-finals have players who will be lining up for the Bolters.

That change was welcomed by the Pink Slugs, which would have gone into a must-win game this Sunday without their Bolters duo Dylan Smith and Nathan Trindall, who are both key players for Narrabri.

The MA Connolly Cup grand final will now be contested on Sunday, February 27 a result of that change.

The Pink Slugs also learned that the Armidale Bushrangers have the first hosting rights for the grand final.

However, Collins Park can still host the decider if Narrabri and Quirindi both win their respective semi-final matches.

Armidale is the higher-ranked of the four semi-final teams after it finished first on the Gwydir Conference ladder, and also considering it finished with a better net run rate than Narrabri did.