CRICKET Albury-Wodonga will postpone round 12 of the competition in a bid to get players and supporters to the SCG for the Country Cup Final.
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Yesterday the “controversial” decision had the backing of several Provincial captains.
CAW boss Michael Erdeljac yesterday revealed that there would be no senior cricket on Saturday, February 2, giving players and officials the opportunity to travel to Sydney to watch CAW in the SCG Country Cup final against Merewether a day later.
Instead, the Provincial and District first grade competitions will now play the two-day round on Saturday, February 9 and Sunday, February 10.
Provincial and District second grade, and the C grade divisions, will all play one-dayers on Saturday, February 9.
Juniors will not change.
Erdeljac said he hoped the controversial move would translate into plenty of support for CAW in Sydney.
He said the main reason for the switch was to ensure representative players didn’t miss club games.
“We’d love to have 100 people travel up to Sydney,” Erdeljac said yesterday.
“How often do you get to play on the SCG?
“The reason we’ve called B and C grade off is they might want to go away and see their mates go and play at the SCG.
“We’ve got the NSW rooms because we are the home side.
“This is reward for all the people who have put work in.”
Albury captain Craig Mannagh and East Albury skipper Joel Shepherd said they were unfazed by the move, while Belvoir captain Ryan McNeil said he could “understand” the shift.
“I think it is a good idea in regards to the competition wanting to get stronger,” Mannagh said.
“From a rep point of view the guys have won 11 straight and done really well.
“For our guys who aren’t playing rep cricket they will get a bit of a break.”
Eagles skipper McNeil said the only down side he could see was playing on a Sunday.
“I don’t like playing Saturday and Sunday any more but you can understand why they’ve done it,” he said.
“It’s not very often you get to play at a good ground like that.”