Sunraysia cricket sees the white

WE are a week out from a new Sunraysia Cricket Association season and now the new board’s real test begins.

First-year president Andrew Farlie and his team have shaken up the format with more white-ball cricket over 18 rounds of action.

When all this was first put on the table there were a few sceptics, but in the past few weeks that wheel has turned.

With credit to Farlie, an experienced cricket identity in the region as past Mallee Murray cricket manager, he’s overseen a bit of an overhaul that Sunraysia cricket perhaps needed.

Nothing against ex-president Bill Sauer and those who came before him, but for years things had stayed the same.

That was fine, and functional – in the end it certainly wasn’t a broken system, but cricket is a sport that has peaks and troughs in participation and trying something new may encourage a few more to don the pads.

Having covered the Sunraysia Cricket Association since 2015, at the same time playing most weekends and being a committee member of a club, cricket is a big part of my summer routine and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

While I’d play the game in any format, there are others out there who perhaps would enjoy more limited overs cricket – the chance to bat and bowl in one day rather than spend one weekend in two jogging from fine leg to fine leg.

The addition of a white-ball final, while still keeping the overall prestige of the season-ending grand final, is an added aside to the main competition.

Teams still accrue points for finals, but will also have a bit of extra pride on the line and incentive to compete. All in all, change can sometimes be good and it will be interesting to see what effect the new format has on how things run on the cricket field this year.