WDCA unveils latest blueprint for future of the sport

The Warrnambool and District Cricket Association last night unveiled its plan to revive interest and participation in the sport, announcing it would open the season with a Twenty20 competition on synthetic pitches in October.

But the short-form game would not carry premiership points and only involve one team from each club during a three or four-week round-robin tournament, which would effectively serve as pre-season hit-outs. It would mean no Twenty20 matches mid-week in December, with the pre-season version serving as a qualifying event for the $15,000 cup in January.

In a dramatic step, division one and two cricket for premiership points would begin in November and the more social division three also delayed.

Under the move, division one and two would be split into six-team conferences, with teams playing each other twice, once in a one-day match and once in a two-day fixture, despite calls for the two-day games to be scrapped. The one-day competition would include a grand final before Christmas, with points contributing to an overall ladder and the two-day comp running from January to March.

The association plans to reduce the number of division one sides from 12 to 10 for the 2016-17 season, believing the talent pool is spread too far.

In a series of initiatives, under 17, under 15 and under 13 competitions would be played on different days and nights next season, with the under 17s moving to Tuesdays instead of Saturday mornings.

WDCA chairman Nick Frampton said the changes aimed to increase participation and had been generated by clubs at a special forum earlier this year.

He said the board presented the changes to clubs last night at a forum at the Whalers Hotel but it was unlikely there would be any changes.

“The decisions have been made,” Frampton said.

“This is what the board is there for.

“All the ideas on this document have come from the clubs, there is nothing from us.

“These are exciting changes. This is driven by the clubs for the clubs.”

Frampton said the association had listened to concerns from clubs and cricket enthusiasts that the sport needed to be rejuvenated.

“Some will say we have gone too far, some will say we haven’t gone far enough but I think there are enough changes here.”

He said the move to conferences was aimed at addressing concerns and criticisms of an uneven draw.

He said the association wanted to lay out the three-year plan so clubs knew the path ahead. He said the board had spent more than seven hours the day after the grand final working through recommendations from consultant Lachie Patterson, which came from issues raised at the forum.

“We are not naive enough to think there aren’t clubs out there struggling to get teams on the park.

“We want to give them three years to get their heads around this. The constant change (the association has had) was something they have found destabilising.”

He said one of the biggest issues was players and the move to delay the season was aimed at giving cricketers a break from a long football season. It meant clubs only had to find one team in October for the Twenty20 format rather than two or three. It also meant pre-season didn’t have to start as early as May for some clubs.

Association general manager Michael Harrison said one of the biggest talking points last season had been the drain on teenagers, especially at under 17 level. Many had work commitments on Saturday mornings and the best players were deterred from playing juniors and seniors because of restrictions on overs bowled.

Last season he said sides deliberately used bowlers as wicketkeepers in the morning to ensure they could bowl in seniors in the afternoon.

Teenagers were already training on Tuesday nights so now they would play and then be able to train on Thursdays with senior sides and play on Saturdays.

“It frees up young cricketers to play at the highest level without any undue restrictions,” Harrison said.