On the back of an extreme heatwave across the state, the Dubbo District Cricket Association on Thusday took the equally-extreme measure of cancelling Saturday’s senior cricket.
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All games, all grades, canned. Draw points awarded to each team. Friday night’s Megahit clash also abandoned.
What’s next? The DDCA issues a directive to all barbecue attendants demanding onions be placed under the sausage, not on top?
Utter madness.
Player safety, though, is a very serious matter and I applaud the DDCA and president Jeff Shanks for taking the welfare of the association’s players very seriously.
But their intentions aren’t the issue here.
It’s the method.
Completely abandoning a round of cricket two days out from a ball being bowled is madness.
Cricket isn’t called off on a Thursday if there Weatherzone predicts a storm on Saturday.
Despite the forecast of inclement weather, players still turn up, umpires arrive and if and when the storm arrives covers are thrown on the wicket.
It should be the same this weekend in Dubbo.
It’s hot, everyone’s got at least a dozen Facebook friends who love a good shot of their car temperature gauge, so we know the mercury has climbed up over 40.
So come Saturday is makes sense to take the proper precautions.
More drinks breaks. Slip, slop, slap. Have heaps of ice on hand. Find as much shade as possible, when you’re not out in the middle, of course.
Shanks told the Liberal “by the time we get to Saturday it will have been seven days straight of over 40 degrees”, and given that extended, unprecedented stretch of heat the decision was made to cancel round 10 of the 2018-19 season.
... by the time we get to Saturday it will have been seven days straight of over 40 degrees.
- DDCA boss Jeff Shanks.
Saturday’s predicted temperature in Dubbo is 42 degrees Celcius.
Could the start times of Saturday’s one-day games have been brought forward to avoid the worst of that heat?
There won’t be any dew, that much we can bank on and junior cricket is on a break due to school holidays, so why not begin senior cricket at 8am? Most games will miss the worst of the day’s heat.
In my mind, the DDCA’s job is undoubtedly to ensure the safety of its players but, by the same token, Shanks and his executive committee also bear a responsibility to do their best to ensure cricket is played in Dubbo every Saturday.
Be it in the face of rain, or as the city deals with a heatwave ... in summer, too, who would have thought?
On top of that, CYMS was drawn to take on Newtown in a blockbuster clash in the Whitney Cup. They won’t play each other again until March.
Shanks has called on associations across Western Zone to “follow our lead” and join Dubbo in abandoning cricket this Saturday as we all try and beat the heat.
I don’t know if that will happen.
The only benefit of making a call like this on a Thursday is there’s still enough time to reverse it.
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