Although the Goulburn District Cricket Association's AGM was postponed from last month due to the current COVID-19 lockdowns, the committee has been busily working in the background to prepare for the upcoming season.
There is not yet a date set for the postponed AGM, however association president Shane Munroe said it will be scheduled as soon as the GDCA is notified by the council that it can go ahead.
In the meantime, preparations have begun in other aspects.
"We're just sorting the playing conditions out, with regards to the rules and the way the competitions work," Munroe said.
"And we're waiting for the all clear to have the AGM."
The association will not know for sure how big this year's competitions will be until team nominations are made at the AGM, but Munroe said the early signs are extremely encouraging.
"We're looking at up to 14 teams at this stage, which is a massive improvement from last year when we had 10," he said.
"It took me by surprise, I said at the start of the year that we were hoping for that sort of number in two years or so, but now we're looking at 14 and possibly more."
Should that many teams register for the 2021/22 season, it opens up the option of having a six-team First Grade competition for the first time since 2015/16, in which seven teams played.
The possibility of an enlarged competition represents a great success for the GDCA, which set itself the goal of growing both interest and numbers in the local game prior to the start of last season.
"It's really good," Munroe said.
"I'm glad that we've got the excitement back around cricket. That was the goal at the start of the year, to get people excited about playing cricket again."
As for now, it is a waiting game for the association until it receives a message from the council to proceed with preparations for the 2021/22 season.
"I'm not sure how it's going to play out at the moment," Munroe said.
"The council is under the guidance of NSW Health, so their hands are tied in that sense as well. We're just waiting on them to see what we can do, and trying to get things sorted as much as we can in the background."
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