Draw for 2022/23 Royal Hotel Cup locked in for Orange and Bathurst sides

At Monday night's Orange and District Cricket Association meeting, the format and rules for T20 competition were finalised.

Shared with representatives from ODCA clubs was the start date, the two groups and the draw for the eight-team league.

Sides will be split into two pools, with Orange City, Centrals and Rugby Union in group A, while CYMS will take on last year's premiers (St Pat's Old Boys) and runners-up (Cavaliers) in group B.

Round one of the competition will kick off on Friday, November 4 between Centrals and Rugby, but before that, there will be a qualifying phase to determine the other two teams that will round out the groups.

It was previously decided that all four Orange sides would gain automatic qualification into the competition, as would Rugby and St Pat's based on their standings in last season's T20 and Bathurst and Orange District Cricket competitions.

As a result, City Colts, Bathurst City and ORC would have to battle it out for the two remaining spots.

The qualifying phase will begin on Friday, October 14 with City Colts taking on Bathurst City, followed by Bathurst City taking on ORC the week after, with the final match on October 28 between ORC and City Colts. The team who finishes on top of the qualifying pool will be slotted into group A, and the team who finishes second will face off against group B.

That means one of those three will join Centennials Bulls - who opted out of the competition, Kinross and Lithgow as sides from the 2021-22 competition who will not contest this year's Royal Hotel Cup.

But it's not all bad new for those teams, with the guest player rule also being decided on Monday night.

The rule allows for a club to bring in two outside players to join their side for any given match. These players can come from as far as the ACT - like in the case of Orange City's Mick Curtale - or as close as the Central West.

This year, players from Bulls, Lithgow, Kinross will be eligible to be picked as guest players. This will also be the case for players the team who finishes third in the qualifying phase, as they will not make the Royal Hotel Cup proper.

There are three Wednesday night matches scheduled - for November 4, December 21 and January 25. These will be contested by CYMS and Cavs, Orange City and Centrals as well as Cavs against whichever qualifying team is put in its group.

The semi-finals will take place on February 17 (1^st group A v 2^nd group B) and February 24 (1^st group b v 2^nd group A). The grand final will be played on March 3, with March 10 as a reserve day.

All matches will be played at Wade Park, with games once again to commence at 6.30pm.