COMMENT: By Gazette Sports Editor DAVID NAGEL
AT THE risk of upsetting the few people that participate and spectate at the Melbourne Country Week Carnival… my opinion is that it’s a tired old concept and it needs a change.
That’s nothing against the players and staff that commit to the cause, because they give their all, but more about the missed opportunities that exist by playing a mid-week cricket carnival, in the city, at the start of February.
To start with, fair dinkum… it couldn’t be timed worse.
Christmas holidays come and go, and then two, three, four weeks later we ask our elite group of cricketers to take another week off work to represent our league.
Is it any wonder a school teacher like Kooweerup’s Chris O’Hara, clearly one of the best two or three players in the association, hasn’t committed to the cause in recent times?
But, as we’ve mentioned in this paper before, it’s not just about the calendar timing, but about the access to what should be a showcase quality event.
The midweek concept does just not lend itself to any sort of promotion or atmosphere, with only a handful of spectators able to enjoy what should be the highlight of the country cricket calendar.
In effect, country week is a glorified mid-season trip for the elite players of our competition.
In October last year, former International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer David Richards (OAM) started a review into the health of Victorian country cricket.
Mr Richards has now visited each of the eight country regions – Mallee Murray, West Country, Central Highlands, Barwon, North East Country, Northern Rivers, Gippsland and South East Country – and has met with the Regional Boards and other key stake-holders in the game.
Mr Richards was due to report to the Cricket Victoria Board in mid-March 2015 but last week asked for, and was granted, an extension meaning his recommendations will be heard for the first time on Monday, May 4.
Mr Richards is still seeking submissions from associations, clubs and individuals and will this week receive an email suggesting a complete revamp of country week… so that it becomes country weekend.
The email will suggest that country representative games be played in the country… fancy that… and that one weekend a year be put aside where no other country cricket is played and our representative games become the showcase events they are supposed to be.
Just one weekend and it’s all over… and we all get the chance to see.
There’ll be a lot more detail about country weekend, and how it works, in that email to Mr Richards, but for now we’ll leave it at that and not run the risk of upsetting a few.
