CRICKET Victoria resources have been stretched thin with the organisation’s post COVID-19 pandemic restructure leaving the Mallee Murray sharing staff with almost half the state.
The Mallee Murray will now have three staff, area manager Ben DeAraugo, cricket manager Tony Caccaviello and club officer Jacob DeAraugo, spending their time between this region, the Western Waves region, Northern Rivers and North East Knights.
Western Waves accounts for much of Western Victoria from Warrnambool and Portland on the south coast up to the Mallee Murray’s southern border, Northern Rivers includes river communities such as Echuca down to the major central Victorian city of Bendigo, and the North East Knights includes Shepparton, Wodonga and the surrounding area.
Additionally, one coaching and talent specialist in Shane Koop will look after those four regions plus Central Highlands (Ballarat and surrounding areas) and Barwon (the Geelong region).
Before the restructure, announced in May, Mallee Murray was serviced by a Sunraysia-based regional cricket manager in Tom Huf, a participation officer also based locally in Natasha Collihole and a coaching and talent specialist in Craig Hogan, who was responsible for the Mallee Murray, North East Knights and Northern Rivers regions.
Cricket Victoria chief executive officer Andrew Ingleton said the new model, which has created four larger regions within Victoria, will be serviced in a different way.
“There is no question that there are long distances between some towns and cities in these regions but one thing this pandemic has taught us is that there are new ways to connect and work together,” Ingleton said.
Whether Cricket Victoria staff are on the ground, on the phone or on a video call, we’re committed to making sure cricket communities get as much support as we can possibly deliver.
“I’m pleased to say we’ve already had cricket people across Victoria come forward with potential solutions to work together on.”
Workers Gol Gol coach Adam Thomson, who came through the Cricket Victoria pathway during his junior career and has since moved into coaching Mallee Murray sides in the Youth Premier League (YPL) against other Cricket Victoria regions, said the new situation would be a tough ask for the limited staff.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough gig for ‘Koopy’ I reckon, lots of the responsibility will go back on the associations now and that probably puts it back on to the volunteers at club level as well,” Thomson said.
Ingleton said Cricket Victoria was still working on what would happen with the Youth Premier League this season, depending in part on funding from Cricket Australia.
“We are committed to ensuring that all young cricketers get the same opportunities through pathways and representative cricket – regardless of whether you live in Melbourne or Mildura,” he said.
“So our pathway in the future will connect existing representative cricket competitions at younger ages with a Statewide YPL at U-16 and U-15 level for girls and potentially flow into male and female Premier Cricket aligned competitions at the U-18 level.
“We intend to consult widely with stakeholders across the state before finalising our pathway redesign.”
