Canberra Cavalry schedule for ABL season announced

The Canberra Times can reveal the Canberra Cavalry is in the process of finalising agreements with a number of international clubs based on the successful Yokohama Bay Stars model.

The partnership has seen some of the top players in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League travel to the ACT for stints in the Australian Baseball League. Pitcher Shota Imanaga famously starred during his time in orange in 2018 before reaching new heights in his return to Yokohama.

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The agreement with the Bay Stars is set to continue for the upcoming season and Cavalry general manager Ciaran O'Rourke said the club is close to finalising deals with a number of international clubs.

"We've identified affiliate clubs we'd like to work with and we're working through that process now," O'Rourke said. "We'll start to drive that home and lock details in over the next fortnight. Once we lock down the key details, we can put our recruitment plan into overdrive.

"If we can work with professional ball clubs from around the world it gives us access to not just professional players but professional experience, knowledge and training programs. The players bring a professional attitude to training and some experience for our younger players to learn from."

The negotiations with international clubs come as the ABL schedule for the summer was unveiled on Tuesday.

The calendar has been simplified with the competition reverting to six teams after the withdrawal of Auckland Tuatara and Geelong-Korea. The clubs will play each other twice across 10 rounds consisting of four-game series.

The Cavalry will open its season in Sydney against the Blue Sox before returning home for their first home series against the Melbourne Aces, starting November 23.

Canberra officials are keen to build on the success of last year's first post-COVID campaign and a number of themed rounds have been planned.

The club will hold an Indigenous round and tap into the Bay Stars partnership with a Japanese-themed game and the pre-Christmas series against the Blue Sox from December 20-23 will be a celebration of the festive season.

The Cavalry will play its final home series against the Brisbane Bandits from January 11-14.

"The lead up to Christmas should be a lot of fun," O'Rourke said. "That's what we're trying to do, have a lot of fun and bring the Canberra community together. We're playing Sydney so there's that rivalry there as well.

"The lead up to Christmas in general is exciting. We have [four] home weekends before Christmas so there's a lot of opportunities to see the boys play at the start of the season."

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