Marc Brilliant will lead the executive committee for the next 12 months after Grampians Cricket Association hosted its AGM on Wednesday night.
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A few other moves were made to the executive committee with former president David Turner standing down and Travis Nicholson moves into Brilliant's previous role as vice president.
Brilliant said it would be dismissive to not recognise the challenges cricket has faced over many years, but he felt the upcoming season was one where some real groundwork could be made.
"Due to the current pandemic situation I encourage all players especially past players, juniors to get back to there clubs and help out," he said,
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"Even if players and supporters haven't been around for a number of years, the 20-21 season is a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with clubs and players."
Brilliant said he hoped cricket would fill the void that was missed after a community sport was postponed throughout regional Victoria due to coronavirus restrictions.
"This season will provide an opportunity for people who have missed that club atmosphere and team sport especially with no footy, to get back involved," he said.
"Team sport and the social aspect of a club is a great way to get that social release and more importantly help cricket thrive in our area."
OTHER NEWS:
Brilliant said with over 200 years of cricket experience between the association committee and some "fantastic" administrators on the board, he had full faith that cricket in the region was in safe hands.
"All decisions made from the board will have the best interest for cricket and particularly for our region," he said.
"Some new faces have joined the executive committee over the past few years and are really keen to continue on the fantastic work that's been done in the past, bringing new ideas and carrying on the legacy of past committee members of continuing cricket in the region.
"I think we have a really good feel for what players want and what is expected from the league. This also goes out to club level. We've got to remember everyone is a volunteer and trying to do their best at the time."
Brilliant said his new role was in the pipeline after taking on the vice presidency role for the 2019-20 season.
"There were plans in place that I was going to step into the role at some stage," he said.
"It's definitely time for players like myself to give something back to the association and take on the duties others held in the past to make it possible for us to play cricket for all these years.
"I'd personally like to thank David Turner for all the work he has put in during his time on the committee."
MORE NEWS:
Brilliant said discussions were being held over the past few months with the topic of focus on how the executive could get back to playing.
With coronavirus restrictions in place, it was difficult to plan for a season without confirmation on when the state Government would ease the restrictions.
This week Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced regional Victoria would move to ease more restrictions from Thursday.
"The new start date we are working towards is November 7," he said.
"We were originally looking at the possibility of late November but a lot has changed over the past few days.
"We've been in consultation with Cricket Victoria who is working with the state Government and in consultation with DHHS.
"We should receive specific guidelines for returning to play by the end of this week."
Brilliant said clubs would have about eight weeks to navigate through the regulations and guidelines.
"We have been working closely with Cricket Victoria in past few weeks and want to make it as easy as it can be for clubs to follow protocol," he said. "Once we have more updated guidelines, as an association our next step will be working with both Councils on our plan and how we will achieve it.
"The community can be reassured that as an association we want to ensure the safety of not only our players and competition but the wider community as well."
Brilliant said he envisioned juniors would start around the same time frame with more information to come.
"Young players can get the bat and ball out and start practising because the good news is a season will go ahead," he said.
"Everyone has their fingers crossed that besides a later start date to the 20-21 season, we may return to some sort of cricket normal."
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