By JARROD POTTER
BEACONSFIELD missed even more cricket over the weekend after the DDCA turf cover policy left them at the mercy of another barrage of weekday rain.
To the dismay of everyone at Beacy’s training on Thursday evening, the rain was falling but they weren’t allowed to put out any covers.
The DDCA turf covers policy states every Friday the turf cover situation will be assessed by the league and “clubs not following directions (including laying covers without permission) shall be subject to penalty”.
It led to Beaconsfield and Mordialloc’s DDCA Turf 3 clash to be called off after five overs on Saturday, with the wicket deemed dangerous by the umpires after bowlers slipped and each ball created divots.
The DDCA’s policy stops clubs making a decision on laying covers earlier in the week, unless authorised or granted a special exemption by the league.
To add further pain to the situation, there was no rain on Saturday afternoon but the Tigers were left without play for the fourth time in five rounds.
Beaconsfield Cricket Club president Aaron Price said it was tough to watch the brand new turf wicket – only laid late last year – cop these mid-week downpours uncovered.
“Standing there at training at Beaconsfield on Thursday night and watching the game pretty much getting washed away is disappointing as a whole,” Price said.
“Five overs in and the game was abandoned because the bowlers slipping on the front foot – they had to pull the pin.
“Excluding Saturday – where we had five overs before it was abandoned – in the previous four weeks preceding, we’ve had one day’s cricket.
“It’s been a long time for us to get this far and a big outlay for us and that’s why we want to see as much cricket on there as possible.”
Price said he had talked to the DDCA about the policy and hoped the initial decision to lay covers could be given to the clubs so they could be laid out earlier in the week.
“We acknowledge that we’re at the will of the weather gods, but the league should let the clubs take control of their own destiny,” Price said.
“The determination should be left to the clubs – regardless of the curation staff – private or council – the clubs should be in a position to manage their own covers.
“It’s an old fashioned job that just needs people there to do it and we’ve been managing that since last Christmas.
“The clubs should be able to manage it themselves and if they’re preparing poor wickets they should be penalised.”
Beaconsfield has a Twenty20 match scheduled for Wednesday night and has been granted league dispensation to freely administer the covers, which Price hopes it will be a framework for the future.
Beaconsfield versus Mordialloc has been rescheduled for a one-dayer on Saturday.
