Cricket grounds across the Seymour District Cricket Association will once again be brimming with life on Saturday afternoon, with the season set to begin for all grades after a seven-week delay.
This weekend’s round eight fixtures will see the first balls bowled in the A-grade and B-grade competitions, while the C-grade season has been going for the past fortnight.
SDCA president Ben Trezise said it was a relief to have all players finally back on the field.
“We are very happy and excited to get the season going, weather permitting, of course,” Trezise said.
“A lot of the grounds haven’t been able to be mowed, and some haven’t had a roller on them, so hopefully this week with some wind and dry weather it will give curators the chance to prepare their pitches.
“We were pretty keen to get a round under way in November, so to be at the point now where play is looking likely, we are very relieved.”
Having missed such a large portion of the season due to this wet weather delay, the association has been forced to change the fixture to ensure a fair and even competition.
“We have changed the fixture so it is all one-day cricket now,” Trezise said.
“Initially we had half one-dayers and half two-dayers. But having lost seven rounds, if we included the two-day matches there was only going to be eight games left, which just wasn’t enough to make the competition fair.
“This way it works out that we’ll have 12 rounds of one-dayers, meaning all teams will be able to play against each other at least twice.”
Another issue that has plagued the association over the past two months has been the availability of grounds, with the wild weather making many sporting precincts across the region unusable.
But with some sunshine on the way later in the week, Trezise forecast that just one of the league’s venues would be out of action on Saturday.
“Kings Park is the only venue completely out of action, as far as I know. Eastern Hill have moved to Bennett Oval in Seymour and will play their home games there for the time being,” he said.
“All of our other grounds will be subject to be able to prepare wickets in time, but we are confident they will all get up, weather permitting.”
Trezise also wanted to take the opportunity to thank all clubs for their patience over the past seven weeks and the work they had done to get to this point.
“Over this period I have felt sorry for the clubs. They have been the ones doing the hard yards to get their grounds prepared. Unfortunately, with the weather, they just haven’t been able to do it,” he said.
“As a president, I have been very proud of all of our clubs and the work they have put in to get a season started.”