THE sound of leather on willow will reverberate around the region once again this weekend as the 2020/21 Riverland Turf Cricket Association (RTCA) gets under way.
The RTCA’s A and B grade competitions will return to action, after the previous season’s finals series were cut short due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Newly appointed RTCA president Mick Sparrow said it was an exciting time with the season getting under way.
“Considering the times, things are looking good,” he said.
Mr Sparrow said while team numbers are slightly down, overall interest in the game is still healthy within the region.
“We have got the same four A grade teams again,” he said.
“We dropped two B grade teams, but we got Gerard back into the competition again.
“I think it is important to have Gerard in there.
“I know there have been issues in the past, but I personally like the fact that they have come back in.
“Essentially, we are down one team, but there are three or four teams that have probably got too many players, which is disappointing, because if you split them all up, you probably gain another two teams.
“The interest in cricket overall is still pretty good, it’s just that people are tending to migrate to a couple of different clubs.”
Mr Sparrow believes it is important to continue with the A and B grade system.
“We are sticking with two grades,” he said.
“I was on the committee last year and it was a big push from me.
“I was very keen to keep it as two separate grades.
“I have been involved in a lot of associations and for cricket to grow, you need to have an A grade competition for the juniors to strive for.
“That is my view, I love having an A and a B grade.
“You are always going to have one or two teams that struggle in the A grade, but that all moves in swings and roundabouts similar to footy.
“Clubs go through their bad periods, but then they get a hot run for a few years.”
Mr Sparrow said like many other sports, cricket now has its own set of COVID-specific rules to follow.
“It is the same as international cricket, so we can’t shine the ball anymore using sweat or saliva,” he said.
“Every club needs to have a COVID marshal to make sure everyone is keeping their distance.”
Despite only having one official junior grade this year, Mr Sparrow said there are positive signs for growth on the horizon.
“We have only got under 15s this year,” he said.
“But in a positive sign, I know the Monash Cricket Club is running an under 12s format over four or five weeks on Sundays, to coincide with their Woolworths Cricket Blast.
“Their 10 to 12-year-olds will be playing with a hard ball to get them used to hard ball cricket.
“I believe Loxton has jumped on board now as well and are going to run something similar on Monday nights I think.
“So, although we still only have one grade, next year we are hoping to launch an under 12s competition again, meaning we could potentially have that and an under 15 or 16s competition as well.”
Mr Sparrow said the RTCA committee will be doing whatever it can to nurture growth of junior playing numbers.
“We are going to be splashing a fair bit of cash into the junior programs this year,” he said.
“We have got a bit of money set aside and we are definitely putting a lot of that into juniors.
“We are investing in the juniors to keep the future of cricket in the Riverland healthy.
“We really encourage any juniors interested in playing cricket this year to get involved and the four clubs that will have under 15s sides are Renmark North, Loxton, Waikerie and Berri.
“It will be free for juniors to play this year, because the RTCA will subsidise all of the junior fees.
“If anyone out there is interested in having a crack at playing cricket this year, whether it is under 12s or 15s, it will be free.”
Mr Sparrow said the RTCA will utilise a new-look finals format this season.
“Finals will begin at the start of March with a different format, with grand final day being March 27,” he said.
“Since I have been here it has been a two-week finals system where first plays fourth and second plays third and the two winners go straight into the grand final.
“This year it will be over three weekends.
“We are going to be doing an elimination final and a qualifying final, with the winner of first versus second moving straight through to the grand final, while the loser plays the winner of third versus fourth in a preliminary final.
“Every club wanted to go to that format.
“You can look at it from a couple of different ways.
“We thought we would make the system a bit fairer and give everyone a good crack at it and make sure the top two sides get a second chance.”
Mr Sparrow also mentioned a new competition, which will see the RTCA’s best take on teams from the Pinnaroo & Border Cricket Association.
“It is going to be over seven weeks and all the A grade teams will play each other once over that time,” he said.
“There are four weeks set out during the season for the Riverland and Pinnaroo and Border teams to travel to each club in the other league to play each other.
“Then three weeks of the RTCA season and their season down there will see teams playing their regular opponents for points for their local competitions respectively and for the ladder for the joint competition.
“The wins for Riverland sides will count towards the RTCA premiership and it will also go towards a mini seven-week leader board for the joint competition, where the top two teams after the seven weeks will play off in a grand final, which will be hosted by the top side.
“We will hopefully get SACA on board to make it a big day and make it like a big carnival to get the general public involved.
“That is very exciting we are joining forces.
“It gives the A grade clubs something more to look forward to playing against some different teams.”
Mr Sparrow thanked outgoing RTCA president Brian Lynch for his time in the role, as he moves into the vice-president position this season.