CRICKET Victoria has abandoned next weekend’s Premier Bush Bash matches across the Border and North East.
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Clashes set down for Lavington, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Benalla, Port Fairy, Bendigo, Ballarat, Swan Hill, Horsham, Leopold and Churchill have been called off due to heavy rain over the past two months.
While several venues including Lavington were confident of hosting matches, others were concerned about preparing suitable conditions for play.
CAW chairman Michael Erdeljac said he was disappointed the match between St Kilda and Melbourne University had been called off.
“We are disappointed with the decision,” Erdeljac said.
“A lot of time and effort from CAW has gone into preparing a ground and we thought maybe they could have used the grounds that were available.
“The other matches could have stayed in Melbourne.
“There has been a lot of flooding but our facility at Lavington was definitely available for later this month.”
Essendon and Ringwood were set to play at Wangaratta, Camberwell Magpies and Prahran were locked in for Yarrawonga and Geelong and Kingston-Hawthorn for Benalla.
Former East Albury star and Melbourne University captain James McNeil said he had been looking forward to returning to his home turf.
“It’s something that is out of everyone’s control and unfortunately we will have to wait for another opportunity,” McNeil said.
“It would have been great, but that’s the way it goes.”
McNeil plays at Melbourne University with former CAW players Aaron Boyle, Liam Scammell, James Browning and Will McIntosh.
He scored 30 and Boyle took 2-44 in University’s opening round win over Geelong last weekend.
Cricket Victoria has no plans of rescheduling the matches to regional centres this season, but is hopeful associations will apply for games next year.
Since the first country match in 1993, a total of 192 clashes have been played at 55 different venues.