VINDICATED
Washout draw stands as GCA dismisses appeal
LEOPOLD president Darren Barmby says the club feels vindicated after the Geelong Cricket Association dismissed an appeal by St Joseph’s over Saturday’s controversial washout.
Barmby yesterday declared “commonsense had prevailed” after the GCA board of management ruled the drawn result would stand, with Joeys and the Lions to share the points.
St Joseph’s lodged an appeal with the GCA after it was unable to defend its score of 271 at Memorial Park when Leopold raised concerns about some wet areas on the ground after several days of rain.
Lions captain Pat Richards decided against signing a JLT insurance checklist, alleviating any liability the Lions would have faced if a player was injured.
Match umpires Greg Illingworth and Craig Pearce were unsure whether to force the players onto the ground, having deemed conditions safe for play. The day was eventually abandoned, without a ball bowled.
GCA president Barry McFarlane said a memo would be issued to clubs explaining that umpires have the final say.
“At the time, the umpires weren’t sure of their authority with regards to the JLT check- list, but I have since got in touch with Cricket Victoria and we now know that the umpires will determine whether the game goes ahead or not,” McFarlane said.
“I attended the umpires’ meeting the other night and explained everything to them. I told them that they are in charge with regards to conditions being fit for play and the other two people they should speak to are the two captains.
“I will be sending a letter out to the clubs in the next day or so to point out that the umpires are the sole judges of whether conditions are fit for play and the captains do not have the authority to say ‘we’re not playing’.
“If they do, they forfeit the game.”
The GCA management committee, chaired by Doug Cruickshank, on Wednesday night deemed that St Joseph’s appeal be dismissed.
“We feel vindicated that the right result was determined,” Barmby said.
“I’m pleased for Pat and I’m pleased for our curator because we did make every effort during the week to get a wicket up.
“The umpires acknowledged that the pitch was in good condition and Pat certainly wasn’t out there to delay the result and circumvent the umpires to force them to make a decision.”
MOLLY Strano is confident the Melbourne Renegades can have an impact this summer after the team rounded out preparations for the WBBL with a strong win over Perth Scorchers.
Having overcome cross-town rivals Melbourne Stars on Tuesday, the ’Gades took another positive step forward with a convincing win over the Scorchers at Geelong Cricket Ground yesterday.
The Renegades will now turn their focus towards Sunday’s season-opener against Sydney Thunder at the CitiPower Centre.
“It’s the perfect preparation for us to come out here and play on a really nice wicket and a fast outfield down here at Geelong,” said Strano, who hails from Werribee and went to school at Kardinia International College.
“It replicates the conditions that we’ll likely face at the Junction Oval, so it’s nice to come out here as a team and put our game plan together and see how it stands up against a good opposition in the Scorchers.”
Chasing the Scorchers’ 8-108, the Renegades passed the total three wickets down and batting on, made 6-166 from their 20 overs.
All-rounder Strano wasn’t required with the bat, but claimed one wicket.
“I’m happy with how they’re coming out and hopefully I can play my role, which is not to take a big bag of wickets, but to keep it tight and bowl economically,” Strano said.
“That’s my role in the team: to sneak a few overs in the powerplay and to try and not leak too many runs.”
With Round 1 just three days away, Strano believes the squad is well-placed ahead of the summer.
“We’ve had two practice matches and a heap of training to get familiar with each other again,” she said.
“In the last 12 months we’ve had three of our young girls debut for Australia and we’ve got another couple of girls to add to the squad (Sophie Molineux, Tayla Vlaeminck and Georgia Wareham) from the West Indies.
“They haven’t arrived yet, they’ve been at the World Cup, so we’ve still got some additions to make and hopefully we’ll be strong.
“We’ve got a good team on paper but T20 can be quite a fickle game, so hopefully we can put it all together.
“We haven’t played finals in our history, so we’d like to finish in the top four and contest for some silverware.”
The Renegades will play three WBBL matches in Geelong this summer, starting with a game against Brisbane Heat at Geelong Cricket Ground on December 16.