At the meeting of the WASTCA Board on Wednesday 19 January 2022, the Board received advice from WA Cricket that based on learnings from Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, it is likely that WA will experience a “really, really significant number” of positive COVID cases and isolations of close contacts within 4-6 weeks of re-opening of the controlled border, with a corresponding impact on the cricket community with absent players, officials and volunteers.
Based on this advice, the WASTCA Board has serious concerns about its ability to maintain the integrity of the competition and keep the finals series alive without taking decisive action now. The cancellation of the 2019-2020 finals series was unsatisfactory for all stakeholders and the Board is determined to avoid a repeat if practicable.
The Board believes that while community sport – including cricket - may be able to continue through a significant outbreak of COVID in the WA community, it will be unviable for clubs to have full strength and competitive teams in the appropriate grades, a problem made more serious entering our finals series. Minor disruptions could be expected almost immediately upon re-opening the controlled border.
In considering this topic, the Board determined there were three primary objectives to concluding the 2021-22 season:
Stakeholder safety – including players, umpires and club volunteers,
the desire to hold a full finals series for all grades, and
to achieve these objectives whilst maintaining the integrity of the competition with minimal disruption.
Accordingly, the Board has developed a plan to modify the existing competition fixture for all grades and bring forward the completion of the season to the weekend of 19 & 20 February 2022, intended to avoid the worst of the expected ramp up of positive cases and isolations between 4-6 weeks after re-opening. This will entail;
All grades will hold semi finals on the weekend of 12 & 13 February 2022.
All grades will hold grand finals on the weekend of 19 & 20 February 2022.
For mixed grade competitions, Round 9 will remain as a one-day fixture as scheduled for this weekend (Saturday 22 January) to conclude the one day qualifying competition. One-day ladders will be finalised by the Board after Round 9.
Rounds 10 and 11 will revert back to 40-over one day fixtures, played for two-day points (10pts) as has happened in the past when weather has affected day 1 of a two-day fixture. No outright results will be possible.
Round 12 will be abandoned. In Divisions 1 and 2, Round 12 was fixtured intentionally as a duplicate of previous match-ups in case of COVID disruption to the season and can be removed without affecting the competition integrity (all teams will still play each other at least once);
In the mixed grades, the one day semi-finals will be abandoned and replaced by standalone grand finals to be held on Sunday 6 February (previously the semi-final date). The grand finals will be played between the top side in each pool (Grades 1-4) or the top two sides on the one day ladder (Grades 5-8). For the avoidance of doubt, NRR is the tie-breaker for one day competitions.
For the One Day Grade competitions, all grades have already completed a full round of qualifying matches against each other opponent in the grade. Rounds 15 through 18 will be abandoned.
The One Day grade competitions will proceed to semi-finals on 12 February and grand finals on 19 February in line with the rest of the competition.
For 8th Grade and OD4, the presence of the bye presents some difficulty for the fixturing. Some minimal re-fixturing will be required here to ensure a level playing field for all sides in finals contention. It is hoped that affected clubs are understanding of this situation.
For all grades, player eligibility for finals will be adjusted as per the existing By-Laws’ provisions in BL 3.8.1 corresponding to the reduced number of qualifying match playing days in each grade.
The Division 2 and Colts T20 competitions grand finals will be brought forward to Sunday 30 January 2022.
The Colts T20 semi-finals fixture is yet to be confirmed; Clubs involved will be contacted separately.
Clubs are requested to communicate this plan to all stakeholders – including players, volunteers, councils, and contractors where applicable – in order to ensure the required player and ground availability on the revised fixture dates outlined above.
The Board has endeavoured to minimise the impact on clubs as much as practicable given the primary objectives, and the Board seeks the understanding and support of clubs in implementing this plan. The Board hopes this early notification will allow clubs sufficient time to secure ground reservations and allow players to adjust work or holiday plans if desired.
It should be noted and understood by all stakeholders that the above plan will be enacted by WASTCA on Wednesday 26 January 2022 unless there is a change to the date for re-opening announced by the WA state government prior to this time. To be clear, if the date for re-opening of the controlled border remains 5 February 2022 as of next Wednesday, the fixtures will be changed.
Attached you will find the latest Community Cricket guide issued by WA Cricket that reminds clubs of protective measures to safely navigate training and match day scenarios for all participants.
Please also note that the circulating guidance for “Premier Cricket – Amber protocols” DOES NOT apply for WASTCA competition. Any protocols applicable to WASTCA competitions, including anything mandated by WA Cricket for community cricket setting, will be communicated through WASTCA channels.
Based on the current advice from WA Cricket, it is expected that the above plan will give the WASTCA competition the best practicable chance of achieving the primary objectives. However, should the COVID-19 landscape in WA deteriorate or change significantly in the future, the Board will endeavour to be as agile as possible with implementing any other necessary measures to achieve the best outcome for the competition.