The Lavington Cricket Club posted the news on its Facebook page on Sunday night: "We have been informed that a player who attended training on Wednesday and Thursday has tested positive for Covid. We are currently waiting on information from NSW Health as to how to proceed and will update this post as soon as possible."

The Panthers confirmed on Monday every person who attended training on those nights had either already had a COVID test or was about to receive one.

"The information about either close contacts or casual contacts will be provided directly to people who are affected by our public health unit," Murrumbidgee Local Health District chief executive Jill Ludford

"So what people should do is if they're concerned, get tested and stay home until they receive a negative result or further advice from our public health unit."

CAW's season was originally scheduled to start on October 16, but had recently been pushed back to this Saturday, October 23.

"Lavington is going through the correct protocols and we will wait for the results to come back," CAW chairperson Michael Erdeljac suggested.

"If the results come back negative, it's play on, but we just have to sit and wait what comes out of it before we make any more announcements."

COVID has now had an impact on three successive CAW seasons.

The association was incredibly unlucky in 2019-20, losing its first grade provincial grand final just days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison's history-making COVID announcement in mid-March, 2020.

CAW lost one round to COVID last February, but it did an outstanding job in completing the season largely unscathed.

Keen punter Erdeljac admitted just minutes after Lavington defeated North Albury in the grand final on March 27, the chances of the association finishing the season during the heart of Victoria's COVID outbreak just prior to the start was "close to 100-1".

CAW was looking to unveil its draw to the clubs on Wednesday night, but the results of Lavington's COVID tests could alter the planned draw.

At this stage, the provincial first and second grade competitions will be played this Saturday and Sunday.

The 22 rounds are split evenly between T20s and 50-over cricket, although if COVID does impact on a round, that would be automatically abandoned.

The numbers of T20s signals a change for the association, which featured only 50-over cricket last summer.

IN OTHER NEWS:

In 2017-18, CAW played a mix of one-day and two-day cricket.

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