Cuballing take to the pitch reigning premiers as UGSCA season starts on October 21

The Upper Great Southern Cricket Association 2023/24 season is set to start with Towns taking on last year’s premiers Cuballing at home in Narrogin on October 21. “It’s like the local derby I suppose, it’s a good rivalry and they’re a good bunch of blokes,” Cuballing player and UGSCA president Blair Forrest said. “No doubt it’ll be a tough test for Cuballing as everyone will be out there trying to knock off last season’s premiers.” In his second year at the helm, UGSCA president Blair Forrest said that he anticipated a competitive season that will see several significant changes take place. “Unfortunately in the B-grade, Wickepin won’t have a side this season, hopefully, it’s a one-year absence,” he said. “Pingelly has dropped from two teams down to one in B-grade but at least we haven’t lost them completely from the comp, they’re still playing cricket.” The B-grade competition this season will have seven teams while A-grade will field five. “We’ll have our 12-game season, which is what we always aim for before finals, and from what I hear around the joint it’ll be very even again this year,” Forrest said. “It’ll be a good club that misses out on finals, let me put it that way.” Forrest said that his first year as association president had gone well. “It was good to put back into the association and help out where I could,” he said. “I had a good executive around me with Pete Baker as secretary and Brian Evans as treasurer. “Brian’s stepped down as treasurer this year after many many years, he’s an absolute legend of the association, and Ian Anderton has taken it on which is really good.” Another big change will see the association moving from the My Cricket app to Play HQ. “There’s been massive amounts of work that’s going into that,” Forrest said. “Pete’s been driving it and we’re in the final stages of moving across.” Numbers in the junior competition have swelled with eight sides set to play in the 2023/24 season. “There are three junior teams joining this year, which is really good,” Forrest said. “The new teams are Boddington, Kukerin-Dumbleyung and Lake Grace, it’s all been set up over the last four or five years when Dave Parsons was at the helm. “He did a fantastic job along with Pete Baker and Brian Evans, hopefully we can see these 13, 14 and 15-year-olds come through to play for the seniors and keep us a strong association at country week level.” The association hopes to send two senior sides to country week along with three junior squads this year. One thing that has not changed is the Old Dogs v Young Guns match set to take place in mid-February next year. “That’ll be another thing to look forward to,” Forrest said. “Hopefully the Old Dogs might be able to get one back on the Young Guns and have a win.” UPPER GREAT SOUTHERN CRICKET ASSOCIATION 2023-24 FIXTURES Round 1 - Saturday, October 21 Towns v Cuballing Round 1 - Saturday, October 28 Lake Grace v Williams Wandering - Bye Round 2 - Saturday, November 4 Wandering v Towns Cuballing v Lake Grace Williams - Bye Round 3 - Saturday, November 11 Williams v Cuballing Lake Grace v Wandering Towns - Bye Round 4 - Saturday, November 18 Towns v Lake Grace Wandering v Williams Cuballing - Bye Round 5 - Saturday, November 25 Cuballing v Wandering Williams v Towns Lake Grace - Bye Round 6 - Saturday, December 2 Williams v Lake Grace Cuballing v Towns Wandering - Bye Round 7 - Saturday, December 9 Towns v Wandering Lake Grace v Cuballing Williams - Bye Round 8 - Saturday, December 16 Cuballing v Williams Wandering v Lake Grace Towns - Bye Round 9 - Saturday, December 23 Lake Grace v Towns Williams v Wandering Cuballing - Bye Round 10 - Saturday, January 27 Wandering v Cuballing Towns v Williams Lake Grace - Bye Round 11 - Saturday, February 3 Lake Grace v Williams Towns v Cuballing Wandering - Bye Round 12 - Saturday, February 10 Wandering v Towns Cuballing v Lake Grace Williams - Bye Round 13 - Saturday, February 17 Williams v Cuballing Lake Grace v Wandering Towns - Bye Round 14 - Saturday, February 24 Towns v Lake Grace Wandering v Williams Cuballing - Bye Round 15 - Saturday, March 2 Cuballing v Wandering Williams v Towns Lake Grace - Bye Semifinals - Saturday, March 9 Preliminary final - Saturday, March 16 Grand Final - Saturday, March 23