Cricket ACT clubs have unanimously agreed to push on with the summer, despite dozens of players across the various grade competitions being unavailable this weekend due to COVID-19.
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League officials met online this week with the eight club presidents to discuss the spreading COVID situation and thrash out strategies to deal with the irrepressible Omicron wave of the pandemic.
One such measure which has been adopted is that COVID-induced forfeits will be recorded as a draw, such as Saturday's scheduled Glenda Hall Shield clash between North Canberra-Gungahlin and Ginninderra, with the former unable to field a side due to the number of infections within the playing squad.
Stronger COVID protocols have also been adopted across the grades. Scorers must now sit outside, while wicket celebrations are forbidden to allow team members to maintain a safe space from each other.
"Everything also stays the same as before - try not to touch the ball too much, stay away from the umpire, all those things we put in place [last season]," Cricket ACT competitions manager Drew Crozier said.
"There might be some COVID forfeits along the way but that's the way it's going to be, I think. If the game is a forfeit due to COVID there is a special provision which is literally the game is classed as a draw.
"There was a really good collaboration [between the clubs] to really push on and play cricket. They're fully committed to try and finish the season as best we can.
"We obviously have to live with it the best we can, but we're obviously mindful of the safety of the participants."
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Multiple members of the ACT/Southern Districts under-19s Country Colts team are believed to have contracted the virus from this week's NSW Country Championships in Bathurst.
The last match of that tournament was called off due to COVID protocols, leaving several of those players unavailable for their Canberra clubs this weekend. The ACT/Southern Districts Colts were awarded the title after winning four of their five matches.
All four clubs involved in Sunday's one-day semi-finals are set to be missing players due to the pandemic.
Ginninderra is almost full-strength, with several of its top-line players having already recovered from the virus, while their opponent Queanbeyan is missing at least five players across the grades who have tested positive, and several more who are stuck in isolation.
Tuggeranong hosts Weston Creek-Molonglo in the other semi-final at Chisholm Oval, missing at least two first graders with the virus.
Creek has also been hit with COVID through the grades, so much so they've postponed their 50th year anniversary gala dinner, originally scheduled for later this month, to April 29.
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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.
