THE shortest form of competitive cricket will kick start the new Warrnambool and District Cricket Association (WDCA) campaign in a bid to draw more eyes to the developing game.
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In a major shake-up to the structure of the game in the south-west, each club is set to play two Twenty20 matches across the first two rounds of competition in a round-robin style format.
Unlike last season, when division two games were played before division one on the same hard wicket, division two will play its games at a different ground for the first two rounds.
The Standard understands that in rounds three and four of the Twenty20 competition, division two will return to play prior to the division one games as per last season.
WDCA president Gordon McLeod said the decision was made to give each grade of the game equal billing and stature throughout the season.
“Twenty20 cricket is the format of the game that younger people seem to enjoy,” he said.
“Everybody watches Twenty20 cricket on television and we need to give people the opportunity to have a go at it. At the same time, it’s important to play one-day cricket and also to play two-day cricket. That way, players will have the chance to build their innings and things.
“We thought giving each format an even go as a way of getting everybody into it. The way it is set up will be two teams will be playing two different teams with games at 10am, 1pm and 4pm in the first two rounds.”
McLeod said as a way of ensuring all competitions had equal weight, Twenty20, one-day and two-day cricket would each have a separate ladder which would combine into a final ladder at the end of the season.
From this, the overall champions of the competition will be determined.
The first Twenty20 of is on October 8. One-day cricket begins on October 29.
Two-day cricket will begin on December 10.