With blistering temperatures and potentially weather-breaking heat to hit the region over the weekend, Bathurst Orange Inter-District Cricket competition has adopted its first extreme weather policy in regards to heat and smoke.
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Mitchell Cricket Council president Mark Frecklington said the Orange District Cricket Association, of which he's also head honcho, had introduced the policy this week after forecasts of 40 degrees for Saturday.
Bathurst's association is expected to introduce the same policy, which mirrors policies used across the state and in Sydney.
The smoke policy - which has resulted in games at the McDonald's Country Cricket NSW Colts Championship in Bathurst being cancelled this week - will be made on a case-by-case basis at grounds.
Air quality in both cities has regularly been well above the Department of Primary Industry and Environment's "hazardous" threshold for the past two weeks.
It's never really been hot enough to need a heat policy so we've never had one.
- MCC president Mark Frecklington
Frecklington said umpires would have the final call on halting play in the event of smoke, with visibility and player health the two main factors in making the call.
Umpires will be able to use the air quality index as a measure as to whether to stop play, but Frecklington said there was no threshold which would require play to be stopped once crossed.
"Smoke is a different one because it could be really thick for two hours and then the winds change and then it's completely clear," he said.
"It's all down to the umpires as to whether it's bad enough to go off, visibility will be one thing they check and if players are affected then they can go off as well."
"It's never really been hot enough to need a heat policy in Orange so we've never had one," Frecklington said.
"But looking at the forecast this week we thought we should."
When the mercury tops 37 degrees drinks breaks will be made more frequent and longer, and play would be stopped if the temperature reached 43 degrees.
Bathurst is predicted to hit a top of 41 on Saturday, while Orange is expected to reach 39. '
Frecklington said it would be treated like any other weather event in there wouldn't be a blanket cancellation of the round and heat and smoke might affect some grounds worse than others, making the policy case-by-case.
He did say sides - including lower grades - had the option to move games to different venues or even to Sunday, with no junior cricket meaning grounds would be available for sides who wanted to play while it was a few degrees cooler on Sunday.
"That's something we'd look at exploring," he said.
"We're trying to ensure that players are safe on the field."
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
