They cannot make finals, but that doesn’t mean the season’s dead for City Colts. After a staccato resumption of the 2025/26 WDCA season, the A grade Colts find themselves on the bottom of the ladder with four matches left and minimal momentum, but skipper Kent Braden believes there’s still plenty to take from the season. One thing which has stymied momentum at Barr Reserve is the stop-start nature of the year of cricket – of the four weeks in 2026 since the season resumed, the Colts have only completed one match, with a bye (conveniently on the same weekend the league cancelled play due to bushfires), an extreme heatwave, and a general bye on the Australia Day weekend claiming cricket. Couple the sub-par results on the field with the ever-encroaching push of the football seasons into cricket, and Braden said it had been hard to maintain momentum. “It can’t be helped, obviously with the fires and last weekend it was way too hot to prep wickets and to play as well,” he said. “It comes with the cricket season, I suppose, every now and again you’re going to miss games, but we’ve definitely noticed with our group that we’ve lost momentum. “Now you add in footy training and that sort of stuff, and all the winter sports which come along, plus the fact that we’re not playing finals, it’s been a bit tough. “The kids love their cricket, but a lot of them are going back to school, there’s the added pressure of practice games for football, you’re trying to keep a bit of momentum with the cricket and training two nights a week and keep the standards up so we keep improving so we do get some momentum for next year. “It’s hard to turn up to cricket training when you’re not playing finals, we’ve missed a lot of cricket and the footy season’s around the corner which understandably they’re all excited about.” While it is still cricket season, the Colts can still continue to develop and improve. They have just four matches left in the season, starting off this weekend against Benalla Bushrangers, and they’re a red-hot shot. The one win the Colts have picked up this season has been over Benalla, recording a 59-run triumph in the one-day format. Braden suggested several changes will be made, in the batting order and the list as a whole, with young Gus Marek set to debut this weekend. “We’ve debuted a lot of kids this year and they’ve all shown they’re capable of A grade cricket - Gus had a really good Junior Country Week, he’s been one of our better performers in B grade and he thoroughly deserves his opportunity,” Braden said. “We’ll probably change the batting order a little bit over the last three games. “Connor Ormond’s a good example, he made a 50 batting at 11 in the first game and he’s jumped anywhere from 10 through to six, but he’ll get another chance up the order then he might have to jump back down.” Despite the challenge ahead of them, Braden said the match this weekend was a golden opportunity to continue the fine work the squad has done so far this season “It’s another great opportunity for a win,” he said. “They’re down the same area of the ladder as us, they’ve got some good players – [Brayden] Stepien, that [Vishal] Sharma, Conor Brodie. “I think it’s just a good chance for our kids to get back to trying to bat for 45 overs, know they’re a chance at winning a game and putting yourself in that position, and hopefully executing. That’s what we’re after, to give some momentum for next season. “It’d be a shame, with all the work we’ve done and put in to walk away with the one win. “I think we’re better than that, we’ve been in a lot of games, so it’s a good chance to try and get a win.” The Colts host Benalla Bushrangers at Bill O’Callaghan Oval this Saturday from 12.30pm.
