'The time is right': Why powerhouse cricket club is moving competitions

South West Cricket club Pomborneit, at a special general meeting on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, voted unanimously to make the move to the Colac District Cricket Association for the 2024-25 season.

The Bulls, a founding member of South West Cricket since 1996, have played division one cricket in every season of the competition and won five division one premierships to be one of the region's most successful clubs, alongside a stack of junior and Twenty20 flags.

The division one team finished runners-up last season in a nail-biting grand final against Cobden.

Club president Dave Murphy said the Bulls needed to secure their own long-term future with the club already fielding teams in Colac's female competition and junior boys competition.

The club legend said it was a difficult decision to make but recent departures of clubs such as Mortlake, Noorat and Terang to the Warrnambool and District competition meant it had to do what was in its best interests.

"While South West Cricket has been a fantastic competition to play in for nearly 30 years, the losses of traditionally strong division one clubs in Mortlake, Noorat and Terang over the past two years have greatly diminished the competition, while losing those clubs and Simpson have also hurt the lower grades, especially numbers wise," he said.

"We feel the time is right to give our players the best opportunities and standard of cricket going forward in a bigger competition.

"We have been part of Colac District Cricket Association female competitions for five years now and CDCA junior boys competitions for the last two seasons, (and) we find it a strong, professional organisation and where we now see our long term future to be."

It now leaves the South West competition with seven division one clubs at this stage for next season - Ecklin, Heytesbury Princetown, Camperdown, Woorndoo, Bookaar, Cobden and Boorcan.

It's a busy time for the south-west club who will now begin the process of applying for a transfer, with the Bulls also looking to build and fund raise for a second oval after purchasing land next to the main facility.