WITH the start of the cricket season less than a month away, the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association (WDCA) and their new head honcho are making final preparations to kick off the summer of cricket in the North East.
Justin Kelly will lead the association through the 2022/23 season, taking the mantle from Greg Hoysted.
A long–time servant of the association and executive, Kelly said the season was shaping up to be a strong one.
"The last couple of seasons it's started late due to COVID so hopefully it should start on time," he said.
"Greg Hoysted gave us a fair bit of time up our sleeves to get organised, and said he didn't want to do it.
"He couldn't fit it all in with his Benalla Bushrangers commitments on and off the field, as well as the Over 60s cricket, so something had to give.
"I've been on the (WDCA) executive probably the longest, got approached to put my hand up and do it by a couple of committee people, and that's how it went.
"There's a good crew, probably 10 people from different clubs on the executive, we all chip in and it makes life easier for everyone."
Kelly said he aims for a smooth and largely uninterrupted season, a novel goal given the previous two years.
"We want to keep improving communication between clubs and players, it's always a good thing to have a smooth communications via email or websites, which is probably easier than it was 20 years ago with social media," he said.
"I suppose COVID is still going to play a part.
"We're going back to two–day cricket, some players might be available one week and they might not get COVID in the second.
"So that'll throw up a challenge, but we've brought in a rule to cover that where if teams are disadvantaged due to COVID they can bring someone in or someone up from A reserve to fill in for A grade.
"Apart from that, weather always plays a bit of a part so hopefully La Nina doesn't play too much of a part, a wet summer."
With dwindling umpire numbers an ongoing concern, Kelly said the lucrative increase in pay for umpires had to come from somewhere and the clubs were happy to do it.
Umpires can earn up to $200 per game for the 2022/23 season.
"The clubs and the executive decided to increase their fees just to try and inspire some others to take it up," he said.
"We've had a couple of young kids put their hand up already so that's good.
"They'll probably umpire with a more experienced fella so that's good.
"It's not good that clubs and players have to fork out a few more dollars to play, that's a disadvantage of it, but it was just getting to the critical stage, so we had to bite the bullet and increase the fees a little bit."
If you are interested in becoming an umpire, contact WDCA secretary Wayne Cooper on 0439 494 027.
The 2022/23 WDCA season begins Saturday, October 15.
