SATURDAY’S play in the Sunraysia Cricket Association has been called off under the SCA’s cumulative heat policy.
Under the rule if the temperature hits 42 degrees or more for two days before the day of play then the extreme heat cutoff point is reduced from 42 degrees to 39.
The rule is calculated by the forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology at 5.30am Friday combined with the actual temperatures reached on Thursday and Friday.
Thursday’s top temperature was 43.7 degrees while on Friday reached the 42 degree cutoff at 1.12pm to put the cancellation into effect.
The round before Christmas was the last time the SCA lost a day of play due to the heat policy, with the SCA making an early call on that occasion due to extenuating circumstances as explained by SCA administration manager Peter Woodford.
“Last time it was not just the heat, there were water issues that complicated things, that’s why the call was made on the Tuesday,” he said.
“This is different, it’s by the rules.”
Saturday was to be day one of the first two-day round of the 2020 calendar year.
Instead, next Saturday will see one day of cricket, with two-day rules applying but teams’ over allocations halved.
