Plenty Valley Cricket Club’s dreams have been shattered with the news that the Premier Cricket competition won’t be expanding next season.
Cricket Victoria had been looking at adding 19th and 20th teams to the state’s top competition next season, with the Bats, Werribee and Melton Lions the three contenders to fill those spots.
But the three Sub-District clubs were told last week that, after consultation with existing teams, Cricket Victoria had decided it was not in a position to expand the competition just yet.
It is believed Cricket Victoria has said that expanding the competition into growth areas such as Whittlesea, Melton and Wyndham would remain a key objective.
Bats coach Michael Sheedy said his club was surprised by the news, as were Werribee and Melton Lions.
The Bats already have a women’s Premier Cricket team.
“It’s a kick in the guts,” Sheedy said. “Lots of people put a lot of time and resources into trying to get the club into Premier Cricket.
“Mike Ronchi [Cricket Victoria Premier Cricket strategy and development manager] was really keen and went hard to support the push and got us thinking it was going to happen.
“[But] the existing clubs have a say and there was an overwhelming response that they didn’t want more teams.
“We’ve lost so many kids who have come through the program and then gone to Premier clubs. They have benefitted from our program.”
Sheedy said that with one eye on the Premier Cricket dream, the club had suffered this season.
“It has been a difficult 12 months and we have lost a lot of quality players who saw the writing on the wall and went back to play in Diamond Valley cricket as they didn’t want to play Premier Cricket,” he said.
“It strengthened that competition but hurt us.”
Sheedy said there had been a lot of support and backing for the Bats to make the step up into the state’s best competition. He said the decision could have long-term affects on cricket in the area.
“A lot of kids might give up their Premier dreams as it’s too far to travel because there is no team in their area,” Sheedy said.
Werribee Cricket Club said in a statement that it was “very disappointed the long drawn-out process has concluded this way” and it now needed to consider if Premier Cricket was still a strategic objective of the club.
