With the season to get underway on Saturday, the clubs was forced into the decision, forcing league officials scurrying to formulate a new draw which will now see a bye introduced into the association.

League president Mark Allen said the club informed the association this week that it would simply not be able to field a team this season.

"It's just got to a stage where they have no players between 20 and 30 playing cricket," he said.

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"I know they held on as long as they could, but they informed us earlier this week.

"It's a real shame, they have been such a successful club over so many years and I know that all clubs look forward to playing at their ground, they are the best facilities in the league."

The club will continue to field junior teams, with club president Craig Jennings saying plans were already in place to field teams next season.

"We've had a situation in the past in the association where clubs have gone into hiatus, I know Beaufort sat out, Clunes when they had the floods, and they have been able to return. If they can do it, then so can we," he said.

"Last year our A-Reserve team was boosted by players from Avoca which in some way disguised the fact we were a bit light on numbers.

"Avoca's been able to return this season, which has hurt our numbers. There's not one single thing that's caused it, it's been a number of issues.

"If you had have spoken to me a couple of months back, I would have said we'd be right, but in the end we only had five committed players for the season. If you are two or three short you could get away with it, but when you're half-a-dozen down, it's a bridge too far."

The league will this season play five Twenty20 matches and 10 one-dayers.