One of Dubbo’s most experienced and talented senior cricketers has thrown his support behind the Dubbo District Cricket Association and their decision to cancel cricket this weekend.
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The call was made early on Thursday, and has drawn criticism from players who have questioned why the 42 degrees forecast for Saturday warrants writing off the round.
But South Dubbo Hornets captain Mitch Bower has urged those “complaining” to put their hand up to be on the board, if they don’t like the board’s decision.
“I support the decision,” Bower said on Friday.
“At the end of the day we’re playing cricket, just a game of cricket … how much fun do you really have when it’s 42 degrees?
“If someone was to get heat stroke, or an overweight player or young player was to injure themselves, it’s just not worth it.”
DDCA president Jeff Shanks justified the announcement on Thursday, saying that although the predicted 42 degree maximum was “within our hot weather policy”, the seven consecutive days over 40 degrees warranted the decision.
RSL Colts captain Chris Morton disagreed, saying “I don’t really think it matters what the week leading up to it was”.
Rugby skipper Nathan Munro went so far as to say he’d been looking forward to playing in those temperatures.
“I’m working out it in now!” he said on Thursday, when the mercury peaked at 44.3.
“I’ve been out in it all week and it’s going to be cooler on the weekend.”
But he could “see where they’re coming from”.
“We’ve played in a lot hotter temperatures that 42 before, but it’s only going to take one person to fall sick or get really dehydrated and you’ve got trouble,” he said.
“I’m out working in it now haha! I’m a surveyor out in the sun.
“It’s no different to it raining on Friday night, so you can’t do much about the weather. At least they gave us a bit of time so we an organise something to do on the weekend.”
Newtown captain Mat Skinner, who is on the board himself, admitted “you probably could make a case for second and first grade to play”, even if third grade – which consists of a lot of older players and young kids – was called off.
But he said it was too hard to change game times, due to administrative matters and many players having other commitments.
“If someone does collapse in the heat, you don’t want it to come back on the association, and we’ve had a couple of incidents over the years where blokes have had heart attacks – it’s not worth risking,” he said.
“It’s just a game of cricket.”
Instead he said it would be a good opportunity for players to “mingle” with others in their club, and support the sponsors for a day.
CYMS captain Ben Knaggs had been keen to play “a pretty crucial game” against Newtown, who jumped them into first place just last week.
It’s especially frustrating for the Cougars, who would have been at full-strength for the first time since the opening rounds.
He thought having a twelfth man would have been enough to get most teams through the heat.
“We’re very competitive and I think most teams would love to have played … but sometimes the weather goes against us and I totally understand where Shanksy’s coming from,” Knaggs said.
“It’s better to know that we’re not playing, than them umming and ahing and calling it off last minute.
“Looking forward, we’ve got everyone back so we should have a full squad for the rest of the year.”
Sunday’s Brewery Shield match between Dubbo and Cobar has also been called off, but could be rescheduled.
Macquarie captain Ed Haylock has also been contacted for comment.
