Season Update: September 2026

With the new season getting closer, there has been discussion at recent meetings about potential grades and other possible changes or additions to our season, so we thought it was an opportune time to give you an update.

At a recent meeting of the association, the idea of adding a new grade was floated. That grade would sit in between the current Third Grade and Centenary Cup grades.

This new grade (let’s call it 4th Grade for now) would be an extension of the Centenary Cup competition in a sense and played along similar lines to Centenary Cup, with a 1:30pm start and 35 overs per side. It wouldn’t have any of the current ‘restrictions’ that Centenary Cup does, including the retirement rule and the requirement for a certain number of players aged under 19.

Team nominations will ultimately dictate whether this grade will be added, but we are quietly confident we’ll get there. We will know more in the very near future with the next meeting a couple of weeks away and then team nominations set to close on the 20th of this month.

In regard to this season's competitions, all grades other than Centenary Cup are set to start on 10 October. Centenary Cup will start a week later. With Easter falling on the last weekend of March in 2027, the grand finals for all grades will be on Saturday 20 March. Don't forget we also have a reserve day for the Grand Final on the Sunday, just in case weather intervenes and prevents play on the Saturday.

The season will again include a lower grade T20 competition while the 3rd Grade to Centenary Cup competitions are on pause over the Christmas-New Year break. These T20 competitions will run for 3 weeks and are set to be played in 2 divisions.

The Committee is also strongly focused on implementing a Colts competition this season. The confirmed details at this stage are that it will be an under 19's competition played on Monday evenings. 8 players will make up a team and matches will be 15 overs per side.

Other details to be confirmed include a start date (likely start around late October or early November), the length (probably about 6 weeks) and weather there is a second block of matches after Christmas (from about early February). We are encouraging clubs to talk to their players and those around their club to see what interest we can drum up.

The women’s Friday night social competition is set to be divided into 2 divisions from the start with a couple of extra weeks added to the schedule. This competition will also start earlier than previously, on 16 October running for 7 weeks until it breaks for the holidays. The second half of the competition will start early February, with another 7 weeks planned, culminating in a final for each division.

The women’s sub-committee is also working on increasing the number of matches in the Sunday T20 competition with further details to be advised.

The Bonnor Cup T20 competition will again feature the 8 BOIDC first grade sides, with that competition to start on Friday 23 October.