CRICKET Tasmania will start discussions with the sport’s stakeholders this fortnight on a possible Greater Northern team competing in the organisation’s Premier League competition.
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The idea was floated by Cummins last month whereby the best players from the North and North-West would combine and play in the Hobart-based league from as early as season 2018-19.
The concept is understood to have in principle support from Cricket North and Cricket North-West with consultations to investigate its feasibility.
“I have spoken to Paul Clark (Cricket North president) and we are about to start the consultation process,” Cummins said.
“It’s going to be spending a lot of time with the North and North-West cricket communities to understand if it would work? What it would look like? How would it be structured? Who would run it? And all those sorts of things.
“We’ll pretty much have a town hall (meeting) with the main issues up in the whiteboard and work through it to see where we end up.”
“It’s going to be spending a lot of time with the North and North-West cricket communities to understand could it would work? What it look like? How would it be structured? Who would run it? And all those sorts of things.
The team would be a stepping stone to selection for Tasmania’s Futures League and would provide a cleaner pathway to first-class cricket, preventing players being forced to move to Hobart and getting lost in the system.
The former Sydney Thunder general manager, who replaced David Johnston in January and was in Launceston meeting stakeholders and touring the region’s facilities, used Mowbray Cricket Club’s Jarrod Freeman as the type of player that the concept would benefit.
“As it currently stands we are asking a lot of young players, boys and girls, to commit relatively early in their careers to move to Hobart in order to play premier cricket,” Cummins said.
“Some of them are ready… but there are others that might want to play cricket with their mates for a couple more years or stay with mum and dad. It’s about how we can ensure that we have a structure that allows people to stay in cricket for as long as possible to achieve their potential, rather than only taking those that want to move out of home when they’re 17.”
Cummins said it was inevitable that there is a point in time that the state’s top-end talent must be centralised in Hobart for the high performance program.
“When Ricky Ponting played it was a different era and he could actually stay here and play his cricket,” he said.
“If we are putting all these barriers between good cricketers and their opportunity to represent the state then we aren’t doing our job.
“It may come to pass that it is unfeasible but this is what this process is all about.”
It is unclear whether an existing Northern club would be promoted into the Premier League or if a new entity would be created.
MORE BBL GAMES FOR LAUNCESTON?
Launceston could see a bigger slice of the ever growing Big Bash League, Cricket Tasmania chief executive Nick Cummins says.
Speaking on the Northern leg of his statewide tour on Wednesday, Cummins said Northern Tasmanian fans may see more of the Hobart Hurricanes beyond their maiden match at UTAS Stadium against Sydney Thunder on December 30.
“Cricket Australia have expressed a desire to continue to expand the Big Bash in terms of games, not just clubs,” Cummins said.
“We have an aspiration that it will go to a full home and away season and what that means is seven home games in Tasmania (up from five in 2017-18). Because of the window and market saturation I don’t think we would be wanting to play all of those games in Hobart so that means there is more opportunity for more Big Bash in Launceston and Hobart.”
Cummins is aware of the opinion the Northern stadium is under used and said depending on Cricket Australia, the domestic one day could be an option.
He said its record of successfully hosting WBBL matches put it in good stead.
“Potentially long-term we are looking to see what Cricket Australia’s plans are with the Matador Cup, whether that comes back to Tasmania or it continues to be played in New South Wales,” he said.
“The absolute priority is to get this Big Bash game here, nail it and deliver a great experience so that the government – both local and state – say ‘this is great, can we have more’.”
