THE 2015-16 cricket season is about to begin and it's all systems go for the Leeton District Cricket Association (LDCA).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Six teams have nominated for A grade, seven for B grade and five for C grade.
Yanco Hotel, Yanco All-Servicemen’s Club, Leeton Soldiers Club, Leeton and District Cricket Club, the Phantoms and Narrandera have all registered for the A grade competition.
Similarly these clubs have each registered a B grade team. Yanco Hotel has added a second team to B grade that focuses on older players coming out of retirement to re-meet on the pitch.
LDCA chairman John Hill said it was great to see the more mature players forming a team.
This season the Colts are the only club that has not registered a C grade team.
Hill was looking forward to the commencement of the 2015-16 season, especially since B grade has had an increase of an extra two teams registering.
“It’s positive that we have an overall increase in both players and teams,” he said.
“It’s nice to see the older guys coming out of retirement to play cricket.
“We also have some young, keen kids coming forward to play either their first or second year of senior cricket.
“They will be pushing for A grade positions within their clubs.”
A grade competition will commence this Saturday, while B and C grade will take to the field the following weekend.
“The draw will be finalised and we will play up until Christmas, have a break and then back on January 9,” Hill said.
Leading up to the Christmas break both two-day and one-day cricket will be played in the A grade competition, with grand final dates almost finalised.
There will be no format changes, although a request for T20 cricket was made.
Consultation with the clubs resulted in 20/20 not being favoured for the Leeton competition.
“Twenty20 is a more social game and two day cricket is a game of endurance and it’s more technical,” Hill said.
It’s going to be a close competition, according to Hill.
“The strength of the teams will be much the same as last year,” he said.
“L&D and Narrandera will be strong, if I had a guess, they would be the strong teams. Any other teams, if they pick up a few quick wickets, they can turn that around pretty quickly.”
Hill hopes that LDCA will be represented by as many players as possible for the upcoming representative season.
Hill’s expectation for the season was to see numbers increase.
“My expectation is to have as many people involved in cricket as possible, to play competitively, but more importantly to play for fun,” he said.