CRICKET
BLAYNEY gun Jameel Qureshi has expressed his disappointment at Blayney not being part of this year’s Royal Hotel Cup competition, and says the club hopes to play Twenty20 cricket under lights at Wade Park again in the near future.
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Blayney was one of two sides punted following a restructure of the hugely popular day-night competition, with eight teams set to compete in 2015-16.
That’s down from 10 last summer.
Along with Blayney’s demise, Lithgow won’t be back ahead of the Orange District Cricket Association’s Twenty20 season opener at Wade Park between Molong and Cavaliers on Friday, October 23.
It will be a curtain-raiser of sorts for the October 25 Plan B Regional Bash clash between Central West and Orana.
CYMS and Kinross make up the other two sides in pool A, while Centrals, Cowra, Orange City and Moroneys are the four sides fighting for a top two berth in pool B.
It’s the first time in three seasons Blayney won’t contest the Royal Hotel Cup, and Qureshi said it’s a tournament his side will miss.
“It was one of those competitions the boys really enjoyed,” he said.
“It’s not often you get to play under lights and for the younger guys to experience that, I think it was good for their cricket.”
Qureshi said last year’s merger between Blayney and Bathurst District Cricket Association club Bushrangers wasn’t occurring in 2015-16, meaning the Blayney club would stand alone again this summer.
He hoped the team would return to the Royal Hotel Cup in the not-too-distant future.
That’s a door ODCA president Mark Frecklington is more than happy to leave open.
Aware Blayney’s omission will mean the competition is void of some of its stars in the likes of Qureshi, Jayden Fuller and big hitting Nick Bird, Frecklington said the Royal Hotel Cup had to be trimmed leading into this summer, but said its structure was always up for discussion.
“The competition was too big last year,” Frecklington said.
“The decision was made to include Molong and Cowra. Cowra made the final last year so it was important to keep them.
“Blayney didn’t pay their fees which made the decision a little bit easier, but certainly into the future we’d look at including them again in the competition.”
