Orange District Junior Cricket Association president Dave Cumming said it was always exciting to showcase some of the best cricketers in the state on pitches in Orange. 

He said the push to two extra teams than last year – making nine games a day – was a rewarding sign for his committee and the ground staff involved with running the event. 

Cumming said the formula for the tournament was obviously working for families and teams to keep coming back year on year. 

“It’s a good vote of confidence in 50-over games over four days when a lot of things are moving to Twenty20s, there is still that significant push to longer form, he said. 

Groundskeepers all across the city have put in “a huge effort”, and Cumming said they were “showcasing the town”. 

“Those guys are just fantastic. I’ve been to a number of carnivals with [sons] Angus and George and I’ve never seen anyone do it better than here, there’s a real pride about it,” Cumming said. 

“It’s attracting new teams which is great because the old teams want to keep coming as well,” Cumming said. 

He said it was nice to see the tournament growing, with North-West Sydney, South-Eastern and Inner West Harbour the three new teams, with Manly-Warringah is the only team from the 2018 carnival to not return. 

“We were only going to have 16 but there were two teams who were really desperate to come and we said yeah okay we’ll push it out. 

“You don’t want to knock teams back, especially teams that have come before and try to come every year,” he said. 

The carnival kicks off next Monday.