Westbury appears set to be handed the Cricket North A-grade title after the competition's grand finals were called off less than three days before they were due to begin.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Shooting for a one-day and two-day double, the Shamrocks locked in a grand final spot by finishing top of the table before South Launceston ensured the two teams would meet in a fourth-straight decider by rolling Launceston.
However, the three-day decider was called off on Tuesday, with Cricket North's board left with little choice but to follow the recommendations set forth by Cricket Tasmania, Cricket Australia and sporting bodies across the country.
An official decision regarding this season's premiers is likely to be made next week, with second grade minor premier Launceston, who were set to meet Westbury in the weekend's other final, also expecting to be handed the title.
RELATED: South Launceston into grand final
"You don't think something like that is ever going to happen these days," Westbury A-grade captain Dan Murfet said of the coronavirus outbreak.
"Sport is just something that always keeps going, nothing seems to be able to stop it, but not at the minute.
"The twos boys are obviously a bit disappointed because they would have backed themselves going in and they don't get that chance, which is the same as South Launny.
"You've got to feel for them a little bit, they would have been backing themselves to beat us on the day just as much as we would have been backing ourselves to win.
"It's unfortunate for everyone, but at the end of the day amateur sport plays a very small role and there's far bigger things going on in the world at the minute that require a lot of attention."
Murfet said his teammates would do their best to celebrate a successful season despite an anticlimactic last week.
"It doesn't feel right just to be given it just by finishing on top, but also it's nice to know if we do get awarded it in these circumstances it's probably the right decision since we've had a pretty good season," he said.
"We feel in ourselves that we've got the right to enjoy a solid season still and it's a good achievement to finish on top, but we'd all much rather be playing three days of cricket this weekend."
The Knights experienced a similar feeling two years ago when they won the title after rain washed out all but one day of the decider.
South captain Tom Waller described qualifying for the grand final on Sunday and finding out on Tuesday it wouldn't be played as a "rollercoaster".
"It was probably a build-up of emotions," Waller said.
"We were pretty optimistic on Monday, some of the messaging was that we were likely to still go ahead but progressively as time went on you could see the other sports closing down.
"It was pretty disappointing in the end when we found out, you work all year for this sort of stuff to get the chance, (and then miss out) is disappointing.
"It's a rollercoaster of emotions that's for sure, but what do you do?"
CRICKET NORTH STATEMENT
It is with some reluctance that Cricket North has called off this weekend's 1st and 2nd grade grand finals.
This action is unprecedented, however, it has been recognised that public health and safety must take pre-eminence in the current environment.
Whilst we believe that the risk is very low and games might have been able to proceed without spectators, much as has been proposed for some other sports, it would only take a single case of someone contracting or passing on coronavirus at the matches, to undermine such a decision.
Cricket North is also following the advice of Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania in coming to this decision.
We will also be closing the NTCA complex for 14 days after which senior football training will be able to resume. A decision on resuming junior training will be made at the conclusion of that time.
We are also yet to receive information from the football codes as to what their governing bodies decide to do in regard to playing and training, though we understand that the NTFA have decided to defer the start of their season until June.
COVID AFFAIRS: Targa Tasmania called off