Cricket season officially around the corner following the NDCA’s 2025/26 AGM

Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2025/26 season is just weeks away and the outlook of the new campaign became much clearer at last week’s annual general meeting.

The AGM was held at Narrabri Bowling Club on Wednesday, September 10, at which the new board and a new club were announced.

The 2025/26 season board includes a new president and treasurer after Josh Rose and Luke Meppem both stepped down after five and 13 years in those roles, respectively.

Brendon Ward has replaced Rose as president and last season’s vice-president David McInnes has replaced Meppem as treasurer.

Former junior vice-president Matt Bradshaw has stepped up into the senior vice-president role, and Beau Tomlinson has joined the board as the new junior vice-president.

Bill Wood is still the secretary heading into the new campaign.

Of last season’s general board members, Will Ford, Nathan Trindall and Jakeb Nipperess have stepped down, and they have been replaced by Rowan Keeler, Jesse Packer and Nathan Miller. Kaleb Mowle and Mick Dowdell will remain as general board members.

The grounds committee will be led by Jack Tate this season, with Mowle and Millar also a part of that committee.

Tony Meppem is once again the patron.

Returning NDCA secretary Bill Wood told The Courier he had full confidence in the 2025/26 board, and he commended Rose and Meppem for their efforts over a long period of time.

“It’s great to have Wardy back in the fold as president, having had previous experience in that role,” Wood said.

“He knows what’s needed, and there won’t be much of a transition period needed there.

“It’s great to have a bit of new blood in there on the board as well. Having a few new faces on the board will hopefully bring a few new ideas and different perspectives on how things should look.

“That, coupled with the experience of those who have been around for a while, will be really good.”

A new club has come on board this season, with the Boggabri Colts Cricket Club nominating a team in each of the two divisions.

Both competitions are expected to include five teams in the 2025/26 campaign after RSL, Tatts and Tourist Hotel all nominated first and second grade teams, while the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks are still in first grade and the Sign Print Stitch Narrabri Colts are still in second grade.

The season is expected to get underway on one of two weekends in October; either the 11th and 12 or the 18th and 19th.

Narrabri is locked in to host Northern Inland Cricket Council War Veterans Cup T20 matches across the weekend of the 11th and 12th, but the NDCA campaign could get underway on Friday, October 10, with T20 games under lights.

If no local competition games are scheduled for that weekend, the campaign will likely begin on Saturday, October 18.

The one day competitions will remain a 40-over white ball format for both first and second grade this year, and they are expected to be contested across 15 rounds, with each team playing 12 games and having three byes.

The T20 competitions are expected to be played across five rounds, with each team lining up four times and sitting out with one bye.

The T20 finals will once again be a straight grand final with first and second going through, while the one day grand finals will again see the first-ranked team go straight through to the grand final and the teams ranked second and third meeting in preliminary final clashes.