Scores wiped after Big Wet
IF you were confused by the latest round of washouts in the GCA, spare a thought for the players in the Victorian Premier Cricket ranks.
After enduring constant showers, delays of several hours and copping a drenching as they pulled the covers on and off the pitch, officials have deemed Saturday’s action a nonevent.
Round 13 will revert to a one-dayer this weekend, wiping all scores from the first day of play in a move that is certain to anger clubs.
St Kilda is reportedly filthy, having dismissed top-four side Essendon for 76 at Windy Hill. And if the Saints got an opportunity to resume the match, they could have climbed as high as top spot with a vital victory.
All nine first XI games started in a rain-affected round, but only a handful of the games hit the maximum 36 overs to constitute a round.
Fitzroy-Doncaster and Carlton played 35 overs, Footscray Edgewater batted for 52 overs against Greenvale, Prahran managed 32.1 overs against Casey-South Melbourne, Melbourne Uni was washed out after 26.5 overs in the match with Melbourne, Northcote survived 36 overs against KingstonHawthorn, Frankston Peninsula’s contest with Monash was abandoned after 32 overs, Ringwood was 4-68 after 36 overs against Dandenong and Camberwell cancelled its game with Geelong after 29.1 overs.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent a retrospective washout.
“Five teams need to play 36 overs to warrant a two-day game to continue and four games played 36 overs, the fifth game played 35 but it wasn’t enough,” Geelong skipper Eamonn Vines explained.
“It was so close that they had a meeting about it. We’ve played seven one-day games already, so it would’ve been nice to keep it a two-day game, but we’ve played enough one-day cricket that we should be able to change back quickly.
“It would’ve been entertaining if it stayed a two-day game because we know Camberwell were going to be aggressive and set us a total to chase so they could get quick wickets, and we want the points as well, so we were going to go after it. It was going to be an exciting game of cricket and most games would have been that way.”
With second XI cricket continuing as a two-day, neither Camberwell or Geelong will be able to alter their teams to suit the shortened format.
“Team play different sides from two-day cricket to one day and we do the same thing,” Vines said.
“It’s bizarre. This is my fifth season in Premier cricket and this has never happened before.”