State comp in the works
NORTH Queensland’s best cricketers are gearing up to take on the state’s best.
We can reveal a representative outfit made up of North Queensland’s best cricketers is in advanced discussions to be included in the state’s premier cricket competition.
The Brisbane-based competition is home to the state’s best cricketers, and is used as a breeding ground for the next crop of Shield stars.
Plans for a North Queensland invasion centre around the establishment of a regional cricket team, made up of players hailing from Cairns to Mackay, to compete in the South East Queensland competition alongside teams from Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich.
It is understood the team will share its home fixtures among Townsville, Mackay and Cairns, with Condon’s Riverway Stadium an ideal venue as an internationalstandard field.
Details of the potential North Queensland team come just days after it was revealed the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams will be coming to the region later this year, with the sport of cricket on the rise in North Queensland.
The region has already proven it has the talent to sustain a northern side with several local players tasting success in Queensland Premier Cricket including Brothers top-order batsman Craig Mcelligott.
Brothers young all-rounder Brendan Haylett was also part of the competition earlier this summer, playing for Norths in the T20 competition.
Representative all-rounder Dan Kearney said he would welcome the opportunity to play in Brisbane’s top flight if it came his way. “I know there is a few guys up here who have had success down there, so we could definitely put together a competitive side,” Kearney said.
“I think it would be great for players in the region to test themselves with blokes in the premier cricket competition. It would put us on par with other competitions in the region.”
Queensland Country icon Kevin Maher, who has been looking into the structure of premier grade cricket across Queensland as part of a state cricket committee, said it would be a massive win for cricket in the region but nothing had been finalised yet.
“It’s early days yet but the long-term plan would be to have a statewide competition,” Maher said.
“It might not be quite like the Intrust Super Cup, but perhaps a regional competition where you’re either knocked out or progress – a bit like the old Amco Cup used to be in rugby league and the FFA Cup in soccer.
“That’s all under discussion at the moment, but we’ll have another meeting later this month and recommendations will be put to the board in March.”
Maher said people could speculate all they like as to what a statewide competition might look like or what format it would follow, but nothing would be set in stone until it was approved by the Queensland Cricket board.
“It’s a costly exercise, so to do it, do you play it as a oneday competition or a T20 competition?” he said.
“It’s very costly to move teams around just for a T20 game, which is three hours.
“Just the format and the complete structure of it is yet to be decided, but it is something that’s on the table, which would be pretty exciting for regional cricket in Queensland.”