THE soggy spring weather has thrown the start of the local cricket season into disarray.
The North Yorkshire South Durham League (NYSD), the Durham Cricket League and the Darlington and District League were all due to start on Saturday, April 21.
However, the NYSD and Durham leagues decided last week to postponed all games, while on Monday night, a meeting of Darlington and District League clubs also agreed to push back the start of the season for a week.
As far as the NYSD is concerned, the league management committee says the decision to effectively put the start of the season back a week was not taken lightly and followed many discussions with clubs.
“It was clear from those discussions that pre-season work was significantly behind schedule – in several cases none had been possible – and, such is the current condition of grounds, even if the weather improves it was felt there was little or no chance of any cricket being played on April 21 and 22 and certainly not without disproportionate damage being done to grounds,” said a league statement.
The leagues says this will be a “one-off”.
“There will be no further postponements due to weather this season.
“In taking the decision, and bearing in mind our experience of previous such situations, the view was that the whole of the two programmes should be postponed and that the games should be played on a specified future date.”
Games originally scheduled for April 21 will be now be played on May 20 (Premier Division plus Divisions 1 and 2) and August 5 (Divisions 3 and 4).
Ray Bell T20 Cup matches, which were due to be played on April 22 and May 20 will now be played on an evening, with dates to be arranged by the home club.
The decision to abandon all first day fixtures of the Durham Cricket League was also taken well in advance of the season’s start. This means Evenwood CC’s opening game will now be at home to Peterlee CC on April 28.
Clubs in the Darlington and District League have also reported problems preparing grounds ready for the start of the season.
The square and outfield at Cliffe CC, near Piercebridge, have yet to see any work due to the weather, while Aldbrough St John say it is unlikely their ground would be ready due to the amount of rain.
At Barningham, one cut of the outfield has been achieved, but no work has been done on the square.
District league games due to be played on April 21, will now take place on bank holiday Monday, May 7.
