The 2021-22 first grade cricket competition will not resume until January and the third annual Coates Hire T20 Super Slog competition has been postponed until the 2022-23 season following a Narrabri District Cricket Association board meeting which was held at the Narrabri RSL Club last Thursday night.
An amended draw was agreed on at the meeting, which was called to discuss the remainder of the season after all games, with the exception of a forfeit, were washed out and declared draws during the first six weeks of the campaign.
Play went ahead in one of those rounds on Saturday, November 20, which has now been recognised as round one of the one day comps for both first grade and second grade on the new draw, which was released on Sunday.
The second grade competition will resume this Saturday on synthetic pitches as expected, however, the first grade campaign will not restart until Saturday, January 8.
Work to prepare the turf wickets on Collins Park, Hogan Oval and Leitch Oval got underway several days ago following the recent Narrabri creek flooding, which saw all of those fields become fully submerged.
The first grade one day competition is now a 10-week campaign, which will give all four clubs a chance to play against one another three times each next year before the two-week finals series, which will begin on March 12.
First grade players will now have the opportunity to fully focus on one day action following the NDCA board’s decision to put the third annual Coates Hire T20 Super Slog comp on hold until next season.
NDCA treasurer Luke Meppem told The Courier that decision was a tough one but added it was necessary given the current unusual circumstances.
He thanked the four franchises – defending champions Priag Marketing and the inaugural champions Specialised Civil Services as well as WTC Earthmoving and Rose Pest Control – for their understanding and support.
Those four franchises will all return in season 2022-23.
The NDCA clubs now turn their attention to Saturday when the second grade one day season resumes.
While the first grade competition cannot continue until the three turf wickets are playable, second grade matches can go ahead on synthetic wickets. That prompted the NDCA board to schedule two rounds of second grade one day action before the Christmas and New Year break.
Rounds two and three of the second grade season will be played on December 11 and 18, respectively, with games to be held at Narrabri’s Cooma Oval and Wee Waa’s Dangar Park.
Second grade sides will contest their T20 competition in January. A three-round regular season will be played under lights on Friday, January 8, 15 and 21, ahead of the grand final that will be hosted at Collins Park on Friday, January 28.
The second grade one day competition will resume with round four matches on Saturday, February 5.
That regular season will conclude after round eight on Saturday, March 5, before the two-week finals series.
The second grade matches to be played this Saturday in round two will see defending champions RSL take on Tatts at Cooma Oval, and Tourist Hotel and Tourist Sports Bar meet at Dangar Park in Wee Waa.
Meanwhile, the NDCA first XI will travel to Tamworth this Sunday to play its round three MA Connolly Cup match against the Central North Zone Colts (under-18s) side at Bicentennial Park (Tamworth Number One Oval).
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