Maitland first grade cricket captains have thrown their support behind T20. Here are their views ...
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City United: Paul Brownlee.
Yes. I’ve always thought it should be incorporated into the Saturday comp, there aren’t enough people around on Sundays or for midweek. If it is an eight team comp I’d substitute some one day games. If it stays as seven teams I’d look around doing the draw so you could play a round robin T20 comp between three teams while the four others play one dayers. It might eliminate the bye, logistically it would take some work but it would be possible.
Eastern Suburbs: Andrew Vickery
Yes. Definitely, I’d love to play Twenty20. They’ve got it in Cessnock and Newcastle so there’s got to be a way to make it work here. My only drama is making sure it’s fair and all the teams play each other equally, that will be hard. You could make it like the old 10-over comp and make a day or weekend of it.
Kurri Weston: Rob Flanagan (president)
Yes. Playing it is not an issue but how you would implement it and the logistics would be. I think the best way would be over two weekends and have a knock out situation with all the teams together drawn out of a hat on the day. Two pools and the top two teams would play off in the final. I don’t think you could play all three formats fairly so I’d have it as a separate competition.
Northern Suburbs: Josh Callinan
Yes. It needs to part of the competition in some way. It might not be perfect with playing teams home and away and things like that but we need to bring it in. We are behind the times without it. It either needs to be one or two extra playing days introduced so you play everyone once or split into pools. I’d like to see T20 brought in as a separate competition.
Raymond Terrace: Troy Mason
Yes. I would only say yes if it is its own stand alone comp. I don’t think a hit and giggle T20 game should be able to affect the top four, especially when we play two-day cricket in the semis and final. I would make it like the old ten-over comp and maybe set aside a weekend. But it should be a stand alone comp until we can work out how to incorporate it properly and fairly.
Thornton Park: Ricky Dent
Yes. It’s definitely got to come in. Maybe on a Sunday we could do a T20 comp or as a whole weekend and make it a stand alone trophy. We are definitely way behind by not having it. I think it needs to be a stand alone thing, especially starting off with teams figuring out how to play it properly.
Western Suburbs: Tom Irwin.
Yes. Me personally I definitely support it but with seven teams it might be hard to implement. I don’t know what the best way is but I’d be willing to put up with some teething problems while we find the best format. We’ve got to do it, no ifs or buts. I think everyone just needs to put up with it for the first couple of seasons while we find the best way to do it.