LOCAL cricketers can look forward to a little more Twenty20 cricket this season.<\/p>\n
In a tweak to last year’s competition won by Ballarat-Redan, the Ballarat Cricket Association is poised to add a third round of matches to the competition.<\/p>\n
Last year’s competition featured just two preliminary rounds followed by semi-finals and the grand final.<\/p>\n
BCA administrator Paul Hayes said the extra round would cater for the growing demand for more T20 cricket among players.<\/p>\n
“We just need to see how we can accommodate that in the calendar,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The players love playing the T20s; it’s something they always look forward to being on the calendar.<\/p>\n
“We are waiting to hear back from one club, but at the moment we are looking at having a 12-team competition, kicking off in November when the weather isn’t too bad.”<\/p>\n
It’s anticipated matches will be played on Tuesday nights on 18 and 25 November and 9 December, with the semi-finals to be held on 20 January.<\/p>\n
The grand final is again likely to be played on 26 January, with Eastern Oval the venue.<\/p>\n
The format of the competition will include three pools of four teams, with the three winners and the best-rated second place team or ‘lucky loser’ advancing to the semis.<\/p>\n
All BCA Premier First XI clubs are expected to be part of the action and will be joined by two clubs outside the top division.<\/p>\n
Ballarat-Redan will start the competition as defending champions following their stirring win earlier this year over Bacchus Marsh.<\/p>\n
It was the club’s first premiership in any form of First XI cricket in nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
Bacchus Marsh would go on to win the First XI premiership \u2013 the club’s first in the BCA \u2013 while Ballarat-Redan wound up semi-finalists.<\/p>\n
A few weeks into the 2025-26 season, Hayes feels the BCA is trending positively.<\/p>\n
“Our competition is shaping really well. Our Premier First XI competition looks to be fairly even,” he said.<\/p>\n
“At the moment there’s as many as eight sides that should be in the running at the end of the season and we’ve got good numbers through all our grades.<\/p>\n
“We are slightly up on teams this year from last year, so that’s a real plus.<\/p>\n
“And we’ve probably got a slight increase in our junior teams as well.”<\/p>\n
Contributing to the rise in player numbers was the growing interest among the Ballarat region’s South East Asian communities and an<\/p>\n
“We play nearly every night of the week now, so that creates an avenue for people to play, who’d normally have a clash with other sports,” Hayes said.<\/p>\n
“You still have to play according to your capability, but sometimes a kid who can’t play under-15s on a Saturday can play under-17s on a Tuesday night, and under-17s who can’t play on Tuesday nights can play seniors on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“There is always an opportunity there, even if you play another sport.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOCAL cricketers can look forward to a little more Twenty20 cricket this season. In a tweak to last year’s competition won by Ballarat-Redan, the Ballarat Cricket Association is poised to add a third round of matches to the competition. Last year’s competition featured just two preliminary rounds followed by semi-finals and the grand final. BCA […]<\/p>\n