Kinross drops out of Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket top flight for 2021-22

The students will step back from the region's top flight and instead look to foster the young players that often make up the core of Kinross' First XI by playing in the Orange District Cricket Association's second grade side.

BOIDC boss Mark Frecklington confirmed the move on Monday.

Also the long-standing ODCA president, Frecklington knows Kinross has had to battle hard for a number of seasons to field a competitive side over summer.

The students often star in the short forms of the game, and more than hold their own in the Twenty20 format with sublime fielding a pillar of their performances.

But building pressure, batting time and playing consistent cricket in longer forms of the game, like that on the BOIDC schedule, has been a huge issue.

Throw in the fact a host of the students' best players aren't available during school holidays and fielding teams, let alone winning games, is tough for Kinross.

Added to that, the students' best player last summer, George Cummings - he took 21 wickets at a clip under 25 each and hit nearly 250 runs over the course of the season - is graduating this year and won't play for Kinross.

From 13 rounds in the 2020-21 BOIDC premiership, the students didn't win a game. They finished 24 competition points off their nearest rival, the ninth-placed Centrals.

Frecklington said remaining competitive was the biggest issue for all clubs, but Kinross' quest was made all the more difficult given the bulk of their side is school-aged, with the likes of Ben Ronald and Dave Hunter, and in the past Stu Crisp, senior players stepping up to fill that leadership void at the club.

"To be honest, a move like this has been close for a few years for Kinross. They're been potentially in this situation for a few years," Frecklington said.

He said Kinross' First XI will now play in the ODCA's second grade, as will the school's Second XI.

"They'll have the two sides in seconds," he confirmed.

Oberon will fill become that 10^th side in the BOIDC for the looming summer.

Frecklington didn't have much more detail on the upcoming season other than confirming 10 teams will be in this year's BOIDC.

He said the ever-looming COVID situation in NSW and across the Western local health district could have an impact, but "it was too far out to be worried about it yet".

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