Sport
26 February, 2024
MDCA calls off weekend’s round due to bushfire, monitoring conditions for a return to play
With fires raging in the Central Victorian region, the Maryborough District Cricket Association made the call to cancel the second day’s play of round 14 of A grade, as well as round 12 of A reserve. And with the threat of what the CFA calls...
With fires raging in the Central Victorian region, the Maryborough District Cricket Association made the call to cancel the second day’s play of round 14 of A grade, as well as round 12 of A reserve.
And with the threat of what the CFA calls a “potentially catastrophic” weather day on Wednesday, with strong winds and temperatures approaching 40 degrees forecast, the MDCA has been forced into a waiting game to determine the fate of round 15 in the short term.
Thursday’s fire, which started at Mount Buangor, near Beaufort, quickly headed towards the town, with a relief centre established at Beaufort’s Goldfields Reserve before it was too dangerous to stay at the ground.
Before long, wind direction changes meant the fire was also heading towards Lexton and Amphitheatre, with citizens in towns such as Avoca and Talbot also told to stay vigilant.
As of 8.30 am on Monday morning, the fire had burnt through 19,551 hectares of land, as the Central Victoria area had experienced one of the worst fires since the devastating 1985 bushfires that raged near Maryborough.
The MDCA made the call to pull up stumps for the round at 5 pm on Friday afternoon, with secretary Caleb Cluff explaining the decision.
“It would be inappropriate and derelict in our duty of care to move players into the area or ask players to come through the fires to Maryborough to play,” he said.
“Beaufort Cricket Club were obviously unable to provide any ground at all, and we couldn’t move anything to Avoca as it was in the line of the fires, and Talbot was under threat at that time too.
“An executive is in the CFA, and was at the fire ground, and his advice was not to go anywhere near the fires, and that really sealed it.
“It had been, as I understood it, a protocol in the past for the MDCA to just call the round off.
“Many agreed it was the only way to handle this, as it wouldn’t have been fair to just half call the round off, with players coming in to play in Maryborough or Clunes and not play elsewhere.”
Games that were scheduled which were set to be most impacted was Beaufort’s clash with Maryborough in A grade, which was to be played at Princes Park, while the A reserve clash between the Owls and Crows was set to be played at Goldfields Reserve prior to the bushfires.
With Princes Park also being used as a relief centre for those escaping potential harm, Cluff said it was more appropriate to consider their wellbeing above a game of cricket.
“Princes Park was also being used as a relief centre, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to affect the day’s play as well,” he said.
That came despite Beaufort’s willingness to still play before it became clear that it was too unsafe to leave at that stage.
“I’ve spoken to Andrew Oddie, the president of Beaufort, on multiple occasions. They would have liked the distraction of being able to play, but it just wasn’t possible. As it turned out, the fire situation didn’t get better, and they were grateful that the round was called off,” Cluff said.
With Wednesday’s dangerous weather conditions looming, the league will be playing a waiting game before determining what will happen with the first day of A grade’s final round, as well as round 13 of A reserve.
At this current stage, two games were scheduled to be played in Beaufort, with the Crows due to host Clunes at Goldfields Reserve, while their A reserve team were set to host Colts Phelans at Beaufort Secondary College.
Meantime, Princes Park, which is still being used as a relief centre, was due to host the A reserve game between Maryborough and Talbot.
Other scheduled games in A grade included Colts Phelans meeting Laanecoorie Dunolly at Hedges Oval and Carisbrook’s clash with Maryborough at Carisbrook Recreation Reserve, while in A reserve, Natte Yallock is scheduled to meet Carisbrook at Natte Yallock Oval, and Clunes hosting MKM at Bull Millgate Oval.
“We will have a look at the next round from Wednesday onwards. We wouldn’t have any hesitation if the situation was the same in doing the same thing,” Cluff said.
“At the end of the day, it is just a game of cricket.”