BALLARAT Cricket Association’s senior representative selection committee will meet next week to plot its attack on the Melbourne Country Week carnival.
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BCA president Rob Florence and chairman of selectors Mark Van De Heuvel are set to join with fellow panel members Don Jacobsson, Brown Hill captain Ryan Knowles and Darren Woodyatt, who is team manager.
Florence said it will be at this meeting that the platform will be laid for the upcoming representative season, with eyes already towards the opening Kenmac Shield division one fixture against Maryborough and District on December 13.
"The process next week will develop a squad and (we’ll) notify clubs, check availability and those sorts of things,” Florence said.
Florence said it was unclear when the BCA could play the round two Kenmac Shield encounter with Gisborne and District – scheduled for January 10 next year – because it falls on the same date as the finals of the Twenty20 Cup.
A suitable date for the annual challenge game against Bendigo is also up in the air, but Florence said it is hoped at least two warm-up matches before the Melbourne Country Week carnival – one against Maryborough and District and one other – will be played. He hinted that this could even involve organising a fixture among BCA players.
Napoleons-Sebastopol’s Carman Mapatuna captained and coached the Melbourne Country Week team last season, but it is unclear who will take on the roles for the upcoming tournament, which runs between February 1-5, 2016.
The BCA will be hoping for a change in fortune after the past two carnivals were thwarted by rain.
After dropping out of the competition’s provincial division following a winless week in 2013, the BCA have dominated division two opposition without reward. The BCA has not been beaten during the past two tournaments, but is still yet to earn promotion back into the top tier.
In 2014, the BCA finished third and shy of the top two play-off positions following a last-round washout.
This year, it needed less than 30 runs to win when rain ended the decider against Warrnambool and District, which won the match as a result of finishing on top of the table.
The BCA’s division two Kenmac Shield team kicks off its new campaign this Sunday with a fixture against Grampians in Ararat.
This side will be made up of former district club players.
