The return of Narrabri District Cricket Association’s Town V Country Charity Cup match is one of the major talking points following the confirmation of the 2024/25 season draw on Tuesday.
The T20 contest that sees a team of cricketers who were born in Narrabri challenge a team of cricketers who either live in Narrabri but were born elsewhere, or are from neighbouring towns in the district, raises valuable funds for a worthy cause.
It was last played in December 2018 and dropped off the NDCA calendar when the Coates Hire Super Slog was introduced in the 2019/20 campaign.
There will be no Super Slog this season as the club-based first grade T20 competition returns to replace it, which prompted the NDCA to bring back the Town V Country match.
It will be played later this year on Saturday, December 21, at this stage under lights at Hogan Oval, and will be the last game contested prior to the Christmas and New Year break.
NDCA secretary Bill Wood told The Courier that the board was excited about the return of the Town V Country Charity Cup match, and the event will be the perfect occasion for businesses, cricket fans and the players’ families to hold a Christmas gathering.
The beneficiary of this year’s event has not yet been chosen but will be in the coming weeks, Wood advised.
The new NDCA season will officially get underway on Saturday, October 12, with the opening round of the first and second grade T20 competitions.
There will be six rounds of T20s played during the 2024/25 campaign and nine rounds of one day matches.
Rounds one to three of the T20 competitions will be contested on October 12, 19 and 25/26, and the one day comps will begin on Saturday, November 2. There will be six one day rounds played up until December 14 ahead of the Town V Country match and the holiday break, and the season will resume on Saturday, January 11, with the fourth round of the T20 campaign. Rounds five and six will be held on January 18 and February 1 ahead of the finals on Saturday, February 8, which will be played between the teams that finish ranked first and second on the ladder in both grades.
The one day competition will then return on Saturday, February 15 and will run for three weeks. Once again, the minor premiers in both grades will go through to grand final day and the teams ranked second and third will compete for the other GF spots in preliminary finals.
The preliminary finals will be played on March 8 and grand final day is the following weekend on March 15. The NDCA has also set aside March 22 as a backup grand final date if the deciders are washed out without a ball being bowled on March 15.
Narrabri District Cricket Association will enter representative teams in the Northern Inland Cricket Council’s MA Connolly Cup and War Vets Cup competitions this season.
The MA Connolly Cup will be played as a 40-over format and the War Vets Cup will return as a T20 comp, with the Connolly Cup to be scheduled for all fixtures to be contested prior to Christmas and the War Vets Cup to follow after the festive break.
The MA Connolly Cup will be played in two pools (northern and southern) of four teams, with three minor round fixtures each and the top two from each pool progressing to a cross-over semi-final with the other pool and a grand final to follow to be hosted by highest-ranked winner. It will be a 40-over competition to match Cricket NSW’s Country Plate tournament, with the eligible winner to go on to represent Northern Inland in the knockouts after Christmas.
The War Vets Cup will return as a T20 format, with six minor round games played across three weekends in different towns, with each town hosting a round of fixtures (one team from the northern pool will miss out on hosting a round, as will Tamworth).
Two round games will be played by each side on each of those three days, and the top two from each pool will progress to a cross-over semi-final with the other pool and a grand final will follow. The finals games will be played in Tamworth.
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