Albany and Districts Cricket Association battling wet weather and turf damage as 2025-26 season gets under way

The Albany and Districts Cricket Association has made the decision to replay some A-grade matches at a meeting on Monday night, after the start of the 2025-26 season has been hampered by rain. Round one of the ADCA 2025-26 season got off to a flying start, but games were disrupted in the following two rounds by heavy rain that rendered multiple pitches unsafe to use. All three A-grade games were abandoned before a player set foot on the field in round three last Saturday, coming straight after two of three A-grade matches were rained out in round two. The association met on Monday night to discuss solutions to the frustrating start to the season, deciding whether games should be replayed later in the season. At the meeting, the ADCA decided only two A-grade games would be replayed, with the rest of the matches officially left abandoned. Only the round two A-grade matches between Collingwood Park and Manypeaks and Royals and Railways that were washed out will be replayed at a later date, as Denmark and Mt Barker still managed a result at McLean Park that day. ADCA president Ryan Tindale said the association was considering either Sunday games in January for replays, or utilising the Monday of the March long weekend. The round three A-grade matches will all be chalked up as washouts and will not be replayed, with the same decision made for a B and C-grade matches that were either called off or left uncompleted due to wet weather. The association has also been dealing with nuisance damage to their turf wickets over the past week, with wickets at Centennial Park damaged by a careless e-bike rider. Tindale said the disregard and disrespect for the association’s playing grounds was disappointing and frustrating for both players and officials. “This kind of thing hasn’t happened for a number of years, so it is just disappointing to see people go past the barriers we put up to engage in this kind of behaviour,” he said. “It’s a bit of a thoroughfare over there as well for people while games aren’t in play, so it’s really hard for us to police who is on the pitch, we were probably lucky the grounds were as wet as they were because the wickets would have been much more damaged if the ground had been rock hard, they would have properly burnt the grass around it but as it is they’ve just skimmed along the top. “They are damaged but still playable, which is the best of a worst-case scenario for us with something like this.” City of Albany recreational services manager Mitch Green agreed, saying the city encouraged all members of the community to respect shared sporting facilities no matter if they were involved in their use or not. “We are disappointed by this careless behaviour and are working with the Albany and Districts Cricket Association to assess the extent of the damage and arrange repairs so the wicket can be restored as soon as possible,” he said. This weekend the six ADCA A-grade teams are due to meet for round four, with Denmark hosting Collingwood Park at McLean Park on Saturday while on Sunday Mt Barker clash with Royals at Turf South, and Manypeaks meet Railways on Turf North.