After the first round of the 2021/22 Burns Cup was washed out in mid-December, the second and final pool game is scheduled to take place this Sunday, January 9.
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Though Goulburn will now have the home-ground advantage, with the game to be played at Seiffert Oval against Yass, the side has been struck by some big withdrawals - those of legspinner Archie Wearne, pace bowler Logan Watts, and wicketkeeper-batter Blake McCarten.
McCarten, the youngest of the trio, was forced to pull out of the squad for personal reasons, while Wearne and Watts were called up to the ACT youth representative ranks and therefore cannot commit to the Goulburn District Cricket Association side.
In their place, GDCA vice captain Dean Roxburgh said, will be Simon Fitzsimmons, Dave Insley, and Jordan Gregory.
Though the trio come into the squad as replacements, Insley and Fitzsimmons are proven campaigners while Gregory is a young wicketkeeper-batter with abundant talent, and Roxburgh said all three are more than deserving of their spots.
"Dave Insley is a quality allrounder, and Simon Fitzsimmons is the captain of MBK and another quality allrounder," he said.
"Those guys will both be able to bowl eight overs as well as bat in the middle order ... for us to have guys like them as cover, we're very well stocked, I'll put it that way.
"Jordan is one of the young guys to show up at the main trial, and he worked his butt off to get a spot in the side. I really can't thank him enough, he's done everything we've asked of him ... he should be very proud of himself."
Considering the strength of the three players to come in as cover, the GDCA's goal of restoring the prestige of its rep team is well underway.
"It just goes to show that we are putting Goulburn back to where it should be at," Roxburgh said.
"The First Grade competition, if you have a look at it, is very close. It's heading in the direction that we want it to head in, obviously we've got a couple more years of regrowth, but I see it heading in the right direction. [GDCA president] Shane Munroe needs a big rap for that, he really has done well."
Just one Burns Cup match now remains before the final, which the GDCA side will now treat as a semi-final.
With rain forecast to fall later this week, including over the weekend, the outlook is not positive for the game. However, it can be rescheduled any time up to February 26, so the GDCA is confident it will be held, if not this weekend then at some stage over the next two months.
However, Roxburgh said, the rep team is putting its focus into this weekend's fixture and not making any assumptions ahead of time about the status of the game.
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