Thirteen ACT Meteors players will play in the men's grade competition on Saturday as part of their preparation for this season's delayed Women's National Cricket League.
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Eastlake, Weston Creek, Wests, Ginninderra and Tuggeranong will all accommodate Meteors players in lieu of playing women's grade cricket in Sydney which would compromise their pre-season training schedules given the ACT's strict border restrictions with NSW.
The Meteors' WNCL season is scheduled to begin in Adelaide against Tasmania on January 27.
"They can't travel to Sydney and you talk about staying engaged, if they play cricket I think that's going to help them stay engaged in trying to get better prepared this season," Meteors coach Jono Dean said.
"Women's grade doesn't start until next week anyway in Canberra. Men's grade here is going to be a good opportunity to get some quality, test the skill sets out and just give back to the community which is one of our values.
"Thirteen Meteors playing across second and third grade this weekend, I don't think that's ever happened before."
The majority of Dean's Meteors squad played in this season's Women's Big Bash League in Sydney, but have been left frustrated by constant delays to the start of the WNCL competition.
Earlier this week Cricket Australia announced a further delay, pushing the opening round of fixtures from January 15-19 to late February and early March.
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"The changes to the WNCL schedule have been made to give us the best possible chance of completing a full season," CA's head of cricket operations Peter Roach said.
Meteors players resumed training on Tuesday this week, and Dean said competing in the men's competition this weekend would provide an overdue competitive outlet.
"We've given them a choice, it's their choice as to whether they want to play their men's cricket," Dean said.
"I'll be honest with you it can be daunting for these young women to go into a men's competition so a lot of them are playing there with their teammates.
"We can't actually do that without the clubs' support so big kudos to the premier clubs for allowing our girls to integrate into their teams and create an opportunity that they do deserve because they've got a quality skill set and hopefully they can contribute with some performances on the weekend.
"I'm super stoked that they're all going to be playing on the weekend. We've got some pretty strong-minded women in that Meteors team.
"They just need to play cricket. You feel like you train for nothing sometimes so just getting out on the park will be good."
ACT METEORS
Ginninderra: Nicola Hancock, Rebecca Carter, Chloe Rafferty.
Tuggeranong: Katie Mack, Matilda Lugg, Madeline Penna.
Wests: Zoe Cooke.
Weston Creek: Angela Reakes, Erica Kershaw, Amy Yates.
Eastlake: Carly Leeson, Gabrielle Sutcliffe, Allison McGrath.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
