The top two Cricket Shepparton competitions are in the midst of their first two-day fixtures in four years.
With floods and the pandemic owing to interruptions in the scheduling across Haisman Shield and lower-grade cricket, what was previously a staple of the local season has roared back to life in the 2023-24 campaign.
The Haisman and Clyde Young shields are halfway through their first two-day games, with C-grade and below not returning to the format this season.
But is everyone happy with the change?
The News interviewed representatives of all 13 Haisman Shield clubs, seeking insight regarding the teams’ internal feelings on the format and thoughts on whether the two-day game has a future in this competition.
Central Park-St Brendan’s - Tyler Larkin
“As a club, we’re definitely for it.
“We think it’s a good way to keep developing our juniors and from a purist’s perspective, it’s the most challenging form of cricket.
“We hope it sticks around.”
Euroa - Scott Hamilton
“I’m a bit of a cricket purist, so I really enjoy it and a lot of the older guys enjoy it.
“But given how busy everyone is, one-day and T20 might be the way of the future and holistically I think (two-day) is dying very quickly.
“If you start to dial into what the community at satellite clubs like Euroa, Waaia and Nagambie want, you’ll likely find the one-day game is the priority.”
Karramomus - Mitch McGrath
“We’ve enjoyed starting up with it again.
“I reckon it’s a more pure cricket and the momentum swings at the weekend went both ways and made it interesting.
“I don’t mind one-dayers, but if you lose momentum, it’s hard to bring it back.
“I think lower grades would struggle for numbers, so that would be a problem in the future, but it should definitely go ahead in A-grade.”
Katandra - Ryleigh Shannon
“We’re happy to see it back, even though some teams may suggest that one-day suits us better.
“It’s a true test of cricketing ability in a longer form and it separates the good teams from the bad more often.
“You can’t luck your way through a two-day game as much as you could in one.
“It helps development because in a one-dayer, you have to be nearly perfect from ball one.”
Kyabram - Jackson McLay
“From a club point of view, we haven’t had too much negativity around it.
“From a playing and coaching point of view, I like it, but it’s only going to get harder to get people to commit to two-day cricket.
“Personally, I think it will be a battle to keep it. It lets you develop your juniors and give more players a bat, but a lot of the younger ones haven’t played it and with a few of the older blokes, standing out there for 80 overs doesn’t excite many of them.”
Mooroopna - Luke Zanchetta
“I personally don’t like one-dayers, so I’m actually looking forward to it.
“As a club, we’re upset C-grade doesn’t play two days anymore and we’re pushing for as much two-day as possible as a club.
“It gives you the best chance to promote young talent and the juniors don’t face enough balls, so two-day is great in that regard.
“The format is somewhat irrelevant with availability, I guess, because if you’re playing A-grade you’re usually available every weekend.”
Nagambie - Mark Nolan
“We moved from the Seymour league to the Shepparton comp because they (Seymour) were going to all one-day games.
“We’ve been in this comp for about six years now and the two-day factor was a big reason why.
“A majority of our players probably wouldn’t have kept playing this year if it was still only one-dayers.”
Northerners - Stuart Turner
“It hurts a lot of clubs with older and younger members and it’s a bit hard in that avenue because we’re an older club.
“Our club has three grades, so one wedding could wipe out a team. You really need committed people.
“I know a lot of clubs like it, but when we were working with just one-dayers, I didn’t hear too much backlash about it.”
Numurkah - Tim Arnel
“We’re really excited to have it back. Our players have missed the format.
“We certainly value the format and we set up our year around it in hopes we make the two-day game at the end of the season.
“We see it as the prominent format in the fixture and we’re really happy it’s back.”
Old Students - Callan McCabe
“I’m not a fan of it personally and I think it should go.
“I don’t think it’s fair that we could be bowling under a nice 32 degrees, then it could rain the following week and set up completely different match conditions.
“I like two-day games, but if it happens, it should be Saturday and Sunday; people have families and can’t give up a whole weekend, though, so it won’t happen.
“I think playing each team twice in one-day games is what I’d like to see.”
Shepparton United - Sam Nash
“I think it’s a great thing and it’s pretty exciting to play two-day (games) again.
“We haven’t done it in years and it’s something that makes us more of a premier competition in the region.
“Being able to play that longer form adds prestige.”
Tatura - Daniel Coombs
“As a club, we’re a bit mixed and we enjoy playing just one-dayers.
“Over the last few years cricket has changed locally and, personally, going forward I think we need to move with the times and play single days so we can attract and retain more players.
“It’s pretty cut-throat for just club cricket.”
Waaia - Mitch Cleeland
“We’re excited by it, given that we haven’t played it in a while.
“It provides a new dynamic and a different skillset and we’re looking forward to the changeover.
“We’ve been an advocate for having it back and when voted upon we were certainly happy to see it return.”
What did we learn?
The feedback generally skews positive among representatives of the 13 clubs ― but the good feelings about two-day cricket are far from unanimous.
Representatives of Central Park-St Brendan’s, Karramomus, Katandra, Nagambie, Numurkah, Shepparton United and Waaia offered unrestricted optimism about the format’s future, at least at the top level.
Euroa, Kyabram and Mooroopna expressed joy at two-day’s return to the calendar, while acknowledging the logistical difficulties that could hamper its presence in future seasons.
Meanwhile, Northerners, Old Students and Tatura were ostensibly less confident that playing these fixtures is the right move even now, let alone in the future.
It’s not something that favours everyone ― depending on who you ask, perhaps ― but Cricket Shepparton may not encounter much difficulty if the body wishes to keep two-day games on the ballot long-term.