The Northern Inland Cricket Council have been forced to change the schedule of the inaugural Inter-town T20 gala weekend after Inverell pulled the pin on Tuesday.
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While Gunnedah will still be the central venue for the tournament the final will now be played under lights on Saturday night at Kitchener Park instead of on Sunday, while the first round games will still be hosted in different associations on Friday night.
Gunnedah have named a strong line up under skipper Mitch Swain, with all-rounder Troy Sands saying it will be a nice change to be able to boast a bit of depth and have a batting list that goes all the way down.
Gunnedah will face a stern test straight up as they host Tamworth 1 on Friday night at Kitchener, while Tamworth 1 will face Armidale at the Sportsground, while Narrabri will host Moree before all teams head to Gunnedah for a full day of action kicking off at 8am on Saturday.
“I think the tournament is a great idea and the boys are really keen to get into it,” Sands said.
“We are looking pretty good and bat all the way down – which is a nice change.”
Sands is hoping that opening bats Andy Mack and Jamie Mitchell can get the side off to a flyer at the top of the innings before the pinch hitters come into play in the closing overs.
“Andy is just a great batsmen in all forms and Jamie can bat out a whole innings at a run a ball to anchor the side,” Sands said.
“Then we have players like James Mack, Cameron Milne, Isaac Merlehan and Matt Brady that can be big hitters.”
Sands is also backing the fact that the side has three spin options and a few other part time options to partner a dynamic pace attack, although with upto 40mm of rain forecast on Friday afternoon the bowling all-rounder is eager to see how the wickets pull up.
“The rain is meant to come through in storms and we will have the covers out,” Sands said.
“We will just have to see how the wickets play – It could change a lot.”
If the wickets stand up to the weather the Gunnedah side believes that with the quality sides named from each association that 150 would be par at Kitchener Park, while that might be a bit less for the larger Wolsley Oval.
“Kitchener has those really short square boundaries so anything short will probably go,” Sands said.
“We might be looking at about 30 runs less at Wolsley.”
Hosting the competition is the perfect way for the Gunnedah players to warm up for their annual T20 competition which will kick-off next Friday night.
The competition will run for seven weeks and is unique in the region as it is played as a double header every week with full bar and canteen available.
“I think the Gunnedah format is the best of any T20 comp in the region because we play two games at the one ground,” Sands said.
“The second game starts a bit later for people to finish work and come down to Kitchener for a look once it cools down a bit.”
