SOUTH West Cricket (SWC) will revert to a mixture of one and two-day matches in division one this season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Club delegates have voted to scrap having solely 50-over matches in a bid to develop young batsmen. The structure had been in place for two seasons.
The season starts on October 10-11 with the annual Twenty20 tournament at Pomborneit, Mortlake and Noorat. Seven rounds of one-day matches follow, before six rounds of two-day matches. The grand final is on March 21-22.
Eight sides will contest the top grade: premier Mortlake, Pomborneit, Bookaar, Terang, Noorat, Heytesbury, Simpson and Cobden.
Woorndoo and Boorcan have dropped to division two while Camperdown, which won the second-grade flag last season, has opted against promotion.
SWC secretary Grant Myers said having 40 and 75-over matches in the fixture was an initiative of the clubs.
“There were rumblings last year. They thought the younger kids’ batting wasn’t developing,” Myers said.
“It went to a vote, it came up a majority.”
Myers said there were few objections to the prospect of an uneven draw with 13 rounds. “We did stress if they wanted an even draw they had to play on Sundays and they’re dead against playing on Sundays,” he said.
Myers said shifting the Twenty20 tournament from the first weekend in January to October was due to the Western Waves Festival of Cricket in November.