Ahead of Sunday's final between Narrabri and Tamworth, Gunnedah captain Mitchell Swain said "there seems to be less and less interest" in the longstanding competition each year.

Swain said he was not "sure how many years it's got left", if the competition remained the same.

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He said: "I don't think it will work in the future. But I personally don't know what the answer is."

Armidale did not take part this season, resulting in it being reduced to a mere three rounds and then the final.

Swain captained Gunnedah to a win over Narrabri the final last season. That's him on top of his players in the above picture, celebrating the win.

He "loves" the competition. "But there's a lot of people that probably don't carry that same view," he said.

"It will be tough to see where the competition goes from here. I'm not convinced that the way they've got it now is working."

He added: "I personally think they need to shake the competition up a little bit."

Ben Middlebrook, the present of the Northern Inland Cricket Council, agreed with Swain - saying "something needs to be done".

"But it comes down to all the [relevant cricket] associations agreeing to a change, and that's very difficult," he said.

"We [the associations] have spoken about it. We are hoping for change in the near future. Whether that's next season, we shall see."

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