Lovejoy puts the heat on Mulgrave
BARRON River skipper Elliott Lovejoy has put the heat on underperforming Cricket Far North rivals Mulgrave ahead of the return of night fixtures to the first-grade competition.
Mulgrave will host Barron at Walker Road Sporting Precinct’s Minniecon-Gregory Oval under lights tonight, with both sides determined to keep their perfect Twenty20 seasons intact after going 2-0 in the first round of the shorter format last weekend.
Lovejoy said he was expecting a tough outing against the T20 competition joint ladder leaders, who were coming off back-to-back wins for the first time this season following almost a decade of dominance.
Prior to last weekend, Mulgrave had only registered two wins in the current Cricket Far North season, after winning five premierships in eight consecutive grand finals.
“I think they’ve probably had a frustrating season, by their standards,” Lovejoy said.
“They been so good for so long, so they’ll be really keen to win this comp.
“We haven’t lost out there so far this year, so hopefully we can continue that.”
He said he was keen to see more night matches on the Cricket Far North calendar.
“I think people get more excited because you don’t get to play it much,” he said.
“We haven’t been able to play at Cazalys for nearly 10 years because of the way AFL’s set up there, so this is about as good as it gets at the moment.
“You always get quite a few people down there.”
Tonight’s match starts at 6.30pm. Night fixtures are set to become more prevalent in coming summers, with Manunda’s Griffiths Park in line for upgrades, including new lights, courtesy of a $1 million State Government boost.
Cricket Far North and Cairns Cricket Association president Peter Huey said a second lit venue had been high on the agenda for the local cricket community.
“It’s hopefully going to open us up to whole new formats and schedules,” he said.
While Barron and Mulgrave won both their matches last weekend, Norths and Atherton split their games, while Rovers and Cassowary Coast lost both.