Port Stephens will have to wait another day before it finds who it plays in Saturday’s opening fixture of its Maitland A-grade title defence.
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The draw has been complicated by the withdrawal of Dungog in 2017-18, leaving just five teams and a bye in this year’s competition, and is expected to be finalised by Wednesday.
The Pythons will look to continue their domination of the one-day competition which extended to B-grade as well in the club’s 30th season.
A and B-grade teams completed the 2016-17 title trifecta claiming the major and minor premierships as well as the Twenty20 titles.
The Pythons’ recorded a seven-wicket victory against Windsor Castle in A-grade and triumphed by four wickets against Chelmsford Hotel in B-grade grand final.
While Port Stephens will go into the season as favourites, Windsor Castle, Paterson and Kurri Kookaburras all showed on their day that they have the game to challenge the competition heavyweights led by the Moxey brothers Josh and Jarrod.
Port finished two games clear, but only a point separated the other three teams.
Paterson will need to cover the loss of star all-rounder Brad Bidner who will be playing first grade at City United this year.
Raworth Rabbitohs also have to cover a big loss, with fast bowler Tim Baker, who claimed five wickets in five balls against Dungog last season, also making the switch to City.
The one-day competition will again feature at Twenty20 competition this season with the first games in all grades on December 16 and double-headers on January, 6, 13 and 20.
The competition breaks for Christmas after December 16 and resumes with the T20 series.
One-day games resume on February 10, with the last round on March 3.
Round one
A-grade
To be finalised
B-grade
Lochinvar v Bowthorne at Lochinvar 1
SMR v Seaham at Hinton
Raworth Rabbitohs v Port Stephens at Fieldsend Oval
Regal Hunter v Lakeside Village at King Park 3
Games start at 12.30pm
C-grade
Fred Harvey Memorial v Hinton at Woodberry 1
Belmore v Kurri Kookaburras at Roy Jordan Oval
Paterson v Tenambit Morpeth Bulls at Paterson
Seaham v Port Stephens at Brandon Park
Games start at 12.30pm
D-grade
Bowthorne v Raworth Rabbitohs at Bowthorne
Port Stephens v SMR at Lakeside 3
Tarro Cricket Club v The Old Victoria Cricket Club at Tarro 2
Kurri Kookaburras v Lakeside Village at Howe Park
Games start at 1pm