The Warrnambool and District Cricket Association consulted clubs and has handed down a tweaked format, which will allow clubs in different conferences to play each other in both Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

The Merri and Hopkins conferences will remain intact for two-day cricket.

Allansford captain-coach Ben Boyd said the changes were exciting for the game.

“I know Tommy Jackson is one of the real talents of the competition, but I haven’t played against him or Woodford or even seen him walk out onto a field in the last couple of years,” Boyd told The Standard.

“It will be great to be able to play against these guys and the sides we haven’t come up against for a while.

“I work away and sometimes get asked how we (Allansford) went against Woodford, but I have to say ‘we didn’t play them because we didn’t make the grand final’. I know this idea has a lot of support from around the league.”

It will mean the association will also introduce three ladders – one each for the different formats including Twenty20, one-day and two-day – which will contribute to an overarching ladder which will determine the overall champions of the competition.

Twenty20 cricket will continue to open the first three weeks of the season, before one-day fixtures begin in round four.

One day cricket will continue through until early December, and will finish with a grand final on December 4.

Under the WDCA’s selected format, two-day cricket will kick off on December 10, before the final rounds of the Twenty20 format resume and conclude on Australia Day.

“One of the criticisms of the previous system was that teams didn’t get the chance to play each other,” said WDCA president Gordon McLeod. “This format has been endorsed by us and the clubs and will hopefully be for the benefit of cricket.”

CONFERENCES

Hopkins: 

Port Fairy, East Warrnambool YCW, Merrivale, Russells Creek, Brierly Christchurch, Nirranda.

Merri: 

Woodford, West Warrnambool, Nestles, Allansford, Wesley CBC, Dennington.