RULES and playing conditions for the Mid North Coast Premier League cricket competition will be ratified at a meeting of the MNC steering committee to be held at Laurieton on Monday night.
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It has been confirmed that 10 sides – including three from the Manning, will take part in the league, with the first round to be played on Saturday October 7. The remainder of teams will be from the Hastings and Macleay associations. This will be the biggest shakeup of senior cricket on the Mid North Coast since the formation of the Mid North Coast Council.
United, Taree West and Wingham will be the Manning clubs involved. A fourth, Old Bar, initially nominated but then withdrew. These four clubs played in last season’s Manning first grade competition.
Steering committee member David Burley from Taree said a new club from the Camden Haven area has been formed specifically to play in the competition.
“They haven’t had a first grade side there for about four years,’’ he said.
“Now they’re looking forward to their younger players being involved in a strong competition.’’
Mr Burley said at this stage it is planned that when a Manning side plays a team from Kempsey the game will be at a venue in the Hastings area. This will be to cut down on travel.
All matches, including the grand finals, will be one day fixtures. Monday’s meeting will determine the length and format of the semi-finals.
“We have the last round set for March 3 with the grand final on March 17,’’ Mr Burley explained.
“That gives us a spare weekend before Easter to play the grand final if we get wet weather.’’
However, he added the draw can be tweaked by returning a week earlier after the Christmas/New Year break to allow more time for semi-finals. At the moment the draw is over two rounds, with every team playing each other twice.
He said there is plenty of scope to play a Manning first grade grand final in involving the leading two Manning sides in the premier league. Captains from the three Manning clubs have said previously they believe this is necessary for the sake of tradition.
Mr Burley said this will be up to Manning Cricket to determine when it is played. While the Mid North Coast Council will run the premier league, players will still register with their home associations. This means premier league clubs will still be able to call on players from minor grades when required.
Mr Burley said the three associations remain enthusiastic about the concept, which is seen as the best way to arrest the decline in first grade teams across the area. He was heavily involved in a previous attempt to get a similar competition up and running around 17 years ago. This eventually failed due to a lack of support from the Hastings.
“The concept has worked in other areas – there’s a premier league at Ballina that has been going for 12 years,’’ he pointed out.
“Now that area provides 70 per cent of the players for the North Coast rep team.’’
Mr Burley confirmed the Mid North Coast inter-district First XI competition will be scrapped in favour of the premier league. However, he said the popular under 19 and over 35s will continue.