TWO local cricket sides will field extra junior teams in the coming Northern District Cricket Association season.
Nondies has submitted two teams for the under 17 competition, with Kerang Fairley Town returning to junior action, with an under 14 team to represent the club in the association’s youngest grade.
Competition will kick off in mid-October, with the association still working on fixtures to accommodate the extra teams.
“I think you can put down the increase in player numbers to the work the clubs do in attracting players,” NDCA secretary, John Arthur said.
“The Twenty20 Big Bash competition also helps. Even though our junior competitions do not use the Big Bash rules, the competition does generate interest in the sport.”
The influx of junior players matches Cricket Australia’s 2015-16 Australian Cricket Census figures, which saw grassroots efforts help to attract a record 1.3 million participants to the sport nationally last year, with 328,045 coming from Victoria.
Open age competition will begin locally on Saturday, October 15, with Leitchville/Gunbower aiming to defend its A Grade title in a competition that includes Barham/Koondrook, Cohuna United, Nondies and Wandella.
Nondies will look to defend its B Grade title, with Barham/Koondrook, Cohuna United, Kerang Fairley Town, Leitchville/Gunbower and Wandella all submitting sides.
“We used to start the season on the second weekend of October, but only having five teams in A Grade means you cannot have the perfect draw if sides are to meet four time, so starting later gives players a bit of a break between the cricket and winter sports seasons,” Arthur said.
A separate Twenty20 competition will occur later this year, featuring the association’s five A Grade clubs in matches occurring on weeknights.
“We’ll be using orange balls for the Twenty20 competition this year, which is something different,” Arthur said.
