The Barrier District Cricket League (BDCL) A-Grade has reached its traditional Christmas break with a familiar side topping the table so far – West Broken Hill Cricket Club were also last season’s premiers are undefeated this season but they didn’t go into the break on the back of a victory.
That’s because West and Central played out an incredible draw last weekend.
We spoke to both league captains about their feelings on the season so far following that incredible result.
West’s captain, Mackenzie Attard, spoke to the flexibility of the team across both the A and B grades.
“I think with our shift work, week in, week out, we’re losing at least three blokes so the way that our team is chopping and changing, having to bring reserve boys up and things like that, it’s been really good as a club and also as A-Grade as well to be able to come out on top, week in, week out, with the changing teams just proves how much depth we do have,” he said.
Attard said the break came at a good time and he thinks the chance to replenish will hold his team in good stead come the second half of the season.
Central captain Scott Mateer pinpointed a team BBQ for their reversal of fortunes.
“A sluggish start to the year and not a great vibe around games and training. Turned it around a few weeks ago with a BBQ at training and found the fun again. That’s showed on the field since, with wins against South, North, and a tie against West. We’ll continue to build on that in the new year,” Mateer told us.
He agreed with his counterpart’s thoughts on the break but added it will be bittersweet for Central as they farewell a former B-Grade premiership captain.
“Certainly looking forward to the break,” says Mateer, “but we farewell Pat Jenkinson who has been a fantastic club man and captained B-Grade to a premiership before being promoted full-time to the As.”
North captain Tobias Hack says the competitiveness of the league this year is something else, highlighting the fact there is no clear standout, nor a clear easybeat this season.
“The quality of cricket has been great. There is no one team that has gone winless and it is pretty congested at the top of the ladder as well,” Hack told us.
The North captain also highlighted how quickly the break had come around and rued the washouts that affected the early rounds of this year’s competition.
“Absolutely, we are looking forward to the break, but it has come around quick. We haven’t played a lot of cricket after losing a couple of games to bad weather at the start of the season. But we have three or four weeks off, then we are straight back into it – and then it is not long until finals after that.”
The South Roos are sitting at the foot of the table. Everybody knows about the Roos’ struggles the past couple of seasons, but they have legitimately turned a corner this season. They have remained competitive throughout and even chalked up their first victory in over 1000 days when they defeated Central by 30 runs at Alma Oval.
“It’s a pretty amazing feeling. It’s been a while since some of us have had success,” South vice-captain Ben Franklyn said following the landmark victory.
A-Grade action returns in the BDCL on January 14 with a Twenty20 double header at Alma Oval. North and South will clash in the early start at 3.30pm, before West and Central do battle under lights from 6.30pm.
