UPDATE
Further changes have been made just two days out from the Grampians Cricket Association’s annual Henry Gunstone Cup T20 competition.
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Youth Club and Pomonal withdrew from the event on Thursday night, leaving two pools of three teams each to battle it out for the Cup.
Swifts-Great Western, Halls Gap and Navarre will play at Central Park in pool 1 known as the ‘Stawell pool’.
Buangor, Tatyoon and St Andrews will play off in pool 2 known as the ‘Ararat pool’.
Game times will remain the same as before, with matches to be played at 10am, 1pm, 4pm.
Teams will play two pool matches each, with the top placed side in each pool to progress to the final on Sunday.
With the withdrawal of three teams since the first schedule, the prize money has been reduced to $300 for the winning team and $100 for the runner-up.
More to come.
FULL UPDATED FIXTURE
Pool games played on Saturday December 16
Pool 1 (‘Stawell Pool’) – Central Park, Stawell
10am – Swifts-Great Western v Halls Gap
1pm – Halls Gap v Navarre
4pm – Swifts-Great Western v Navarre
Pool 2 (‘Ararat Pool’) – Tatyoon Recreation Reserve
10am – Tatyoon v St Andrews
1pm – Buangor v St Andrews
4pm – Tatyoon v Buangor
FINAL
First place Pool 1 v first place pool 2 – Sunday December 17, 1pm at Central Park, Stawell
ORIGINAL STORY
The Grampians Cricket Association has confirmed the fixtures for this weekend’s Henry Gunstone Twenty20 competition.
Two pools of four teams each will play off in the annual tournament.
The competition was thrown into disarray when Aradale pulled out of the competition during the week.
Three pools of three teams each were scheduled but organisers were forced to change the format to two bigger pools.
Swifts-Great Western, Youth Club, Halls Gap and Navarre will play at North Park and Central Park in Stawell in the first group.
Tatyoon, Buangor, Pomonal and B Grade team St Andrews will face off in the other pool, with matches to be played at Tatyoon and Aradale.
Two semi-finals and the final will be played on Sunday, December 17.
$500 is up for grabs for the winner of the tournament, with $100 going to the runner-up.
International T20 rules will be followed.
Grampians Cricket Association president David Turner said the withdrawal of Aradale has caused a few headaches for the organisation of the event.
“The three pools of three teams would have worked perfectly so it is a bit disappointing we couldn’t use that format,” he said.
“Despite this late change, we are still hopeful of a really good and exciting weekend of fast-paced cricket.”
The competition has already caused controversy among clubs, with last weekend’s round six A Grade game cut short from a two-day match to a one-day game to accommodate for the event.
The move to bring the Twenty20 competition forward cut the scheduled December 23 matches, pushing them back to January 6 when the original T20 competition was set for when the fixture was agreed on at the start of the season.
After a negative response from clubs around the change, the league has allowed flexibility surrounding the scheduled January 6 matches.
Games will be able to be shifted from January 6 to December 23 if both clubs agree and the change is permitted by the GCA executive.
Turner said multiple clubs have already approached the GCA expressing interest in moving the game forward.
