The addition of Lucas Cricket Club and Burrumbeet Cricket Club to the Ballarat Cricket Association second grade will see a restructure of the competition for the 2016-17 season.
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The inclusion of the clubs will form a 16-team second grade which the BCA hopes will improve the standard but does create a fixturing conundrum.
Ballarat Cricket Association put forward two potential options for the layout of the season to the clubs. Which saw the clubs vote in favour of dividing the grade into two pools of eight, selected off the ladder position of the 2015-16 season. First, third, fifth etc. will be placed in the “odds” pool while second, fourth, sixth and so on will playoff in the “evens” pool. Lucas and Burrumbeet were placed in opposing pools.
Clubs will play the seven fellow sides in its pool once in the two-day format. Before playing five clubs from the opposing pool in three one-day matches and two two-day games.
The finals system will see the top four of each pool playoff for a spot in the pool grand final with first to play fourth and second to take on third. The winners of the respective pools will then face-off in a two-day grand final for the BCA second grade premiership.
The decision to go with this format overshadowed the alternative option that would see teams compete for a top eight finals format but play less of the competition.
Ballarat Cricket Association concedes that the inability to play each team once and create the fairest of seasons isn’t an ideal situation but is confident the structure in place is the best option available. The restructure will also help to align the second grade with the first grade format, as well as maximizing exposure to turf wickets.
