As cricket season draws closer, Tamworth is getting ready to take its competition up a level.
Tamworth District Cricket Association have confirmed that the competition will expand in 24/25 to include Gunnedah as a stand alone club.
The northwestern town situated 75 km from Tamworth agreed earlier this year to merge its clubs in favour of creating a single team that will compete in all four of Tamworth’s premier grades.
Whilst there have been six teams in the lower three grades for decades, the first grade comp has suffered from Wests withdrawing in recent years, leaving a BYE shaped hole in the top grade. Tamworth Cricket Vice President Donny Lewington said it has caused great frustration over the last couple of years.
“Obviously our top level cricketers want to be playing every week.”
“We didn’t have the resources to create another team so we looked for an alternative.”
With the addition of Gunnedah in the 24/25 season, not only will the top grade be more competitive, but it will also give greater depth to the overall competition.
President Sam Doubleday from Gunnedah District Cricket Association said it’s a great opportunity for young cricketers to play to their ability.
“We have a bunch of great cricketers in Gunnedah who are playing the rep stuff, and there’s the older guys and the younger kids who will get the chance to fit in too.”
“The whole idea piqued a lot of interest up here. We had two grades at one point and 13 year olds were in the same teams as fifty year olds.”
The upcoming season will follow the recent formula of putting limited overs cricket up front, followed by two day cricket (spread over two Saturdays) at the second half of the season, with the exception of the lower grades, who will exclusively play one day cricket.
Whilst the now odd number of teams in the lower grades will create its own BYE, the shorter format of the game will ensure, weather permitting, that teams only miss out for one week at a time, as opposed to two or potentially more if it rains.
The bureau of meteorology indicated that after a dry start to last cricket season, New South Wales had consistently above average monthly rain from November 23 to February 24 – right in the middle of the regular cricket season. In the 1st grade competition, the premier grade for selecting representative teams, South Tamworth missed 6 of the 15 regular season fixtures due to combination of byes or wet weather.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” said Chris Paterson, President of Tamworth Cricket.
“Obviously the idea [of Gunnedah joining] has had a lot of buy in from everyone, so hopefully this is the start of something bigger.”
Top image: Tamworth 1st XI playing Narrabri last year. (Photo: Hamish Batley).
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