Gisborne and District Cricket Association, GDCA, has temporarily been suspended its season due to the increasing number of players either testing positive for COVID-19 or being deemed close contacts.
Round seven matches at the weekend were not played with the association committee announcing its decision on Saturday morning. Round eight games this weekend will also not go ahead.
GDCA president Rob McIntyre said the decision was made based upon the large number of players being reported across many clubs being affected by COVID-19 in some way.
“Over the past week, clubs have been reporting a large number of their players have been infected or were isolating as close contacts and that this would impact their ability to field teams over the coming weeks,” he said.
“We will continue to monitor the number of infections at our clubs over the next week and make a decision as to whether our competition can return to play in round nine, however, experts are predicting that this current COVID-19 wave will not peak until the end of January, which could put the rest of the cricket season in jeopardy.”
McIntyre said several sporting competitions that were due to return over the weekend after a Christmas break were also cancelled.
Representative teams
GDCA’s junior male and female representative teams scored success in the past week.
The association sent an under 17 and two under 14 female teams to the Northern Rivers Junior Country Week for the first time with the under 14As defeating Goulburn Murray in the final and the under 17s falling just short in their final against Shepparton.
In the Central Highlands Region Junior Male Country Week, the GDCA under 15s defeated Ballarat in a rain-interrupted final at Darley, while Ballarat defeated Gisborne in the under 13 final at Ballarat.
In the combined regional competition, Barwon-Central Highlands Championships, GDCA under 15 and 17 teams have remained undefeated after five rounds of competition.
The under 15s will play Ballarat and the under 17s take on Colac in finals on Sunday in Ballarat.
“Congratulations to the coaches, team managers and players who represented the association with distinction and thank you to the players’ parents for their assistance and support,” McIntyre said.
