The Ballarat Bolts and Craigieburn have no satisfying date for their Women’s Community Cricket north west A grand final after a rollercoaster week regarding the fixture.
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Originally the grand final was scheduled to be played on a Saturday, which was met with some criticism given it is a Sunday competition.
Therefore it was moved to Sunday, December 2, midway through the season, throwing a spanner in the works of the Bolts plans, who were sitting comfortably in the top two and had previously planned their own schedules around a Saturday grand final – if they happened to make it.
Therefore the change to Sunday would have seen the Ballarat team forced to forfeit.
By Wednesday this week, it was back to Saturday – the game to be played at Ballarat Grammar – which once again was not welcomed by involved clubs.
As a result, this weekend’s grand final has been postponed, which has brought more controversy.
Cricket Victoria’s revised date is December 23, the Sunday before Christmas – which Ballarat Bolts committee member Greg Wakeling says is simply not viable.
“If you work in retail or hospitality – you’re not getting the day off,” Wakeling said.
“I don’t think anybody would be able to get a team on the park on that day, let alone a reasonably competitive one.
“I think it’s unreasonable to ask community cricketers to uproot their plans on arguably the busiest weekend of the year.
“We’re going to have to respectfully request an alternative after the Christmas break.”
Wakeling’s proposal is to play a night grand final on January 18 or 19. Given Craigieburn have a bye that week in the one-day competition, which will avoid any clashes in regular season fixturing.
Wakeling said if the club is held to the current date of December 23, it looks extremely unlikely it will be able to field a team – certainly not its best team.
Leaving the unwanted, and awkward, possibility of a grand final forfeit despite finishing two games clear on top of the ladder.
“We’ll be offering the potential to play a night grand final to attempt to avoid (clashing with) other matches and commitments.
“We won’t be able to field a team (on the 23rd), we don’t want to forfeit, but if that’s what has to happen.”
The final round of regular season competition was played on November 25, meaning there will be at least a month in between matches, while if Ballarat get its way, there could be near-on eight weeks between twenty20 games.
