City-Country game adds dash to Bash

THE cream of the Cricket Far North competition will take to the big stage for a local, all-star exhibition match scheduled for next month.

The region’s best players will compete in the inaugural City v Country contest as the curtain-raiser to the Women’s Big Bash League game between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder, to be held at Cazalys Stadium on Saturday, January 12.

Cricket Far North president Peter Huey said it would be a great opportunity for local cricketers to play in front of a larger crowd and showcase the talent involved in the local competition.

“The City team will comprise players from Norths, Rovers and Barron River, and the Country team will comprise players from Atherton, Mulgrave and Cassowary Coast,” said Huey.

“We’ve already put a fair bit of work into it, we’ve just got a few positions to finalise.

“We are hoping for teams to be finalised early next week.”

With the unpredictable nature of Cyclone Owen casting a cloud over most of the state’s weekend plans, Huey said yesterday that the weekend’s games were all but called off.

“We don’t like to call it off prior to the actual day of the event, but there will be very, very slim chances of playing this weekend,” he said.

The president also sent a directive to clubs on Thursday afternoon, instructing them to leave their covers off where possible.

“It was a safety precaution,” he said.

“We don’t want volunteers kicking around out in any sort of wind or dangerous circumstances. The covers can also be pretty dangerous with the wind underneath them.

“One club put their covers on and that was at their own risk. If they think they can get some sort of game on the weekend that’s up to them, but we need to take the safety of everybody else into consideration first.”

With many dry grounds at the moment, Huey said a good hit of rain wouldn’t be the worst thing.

“After Christmas, (the grounds) will be nice and green and ready to go,” he said.