Veteran cricketers to descend on South West for WA Country Masters Carnival

Veteran cricketers from around the State will descend on the South West this week for the WA Country Masters Carnival.

A total of 22 sides will be competing in over-40 and over-50 age divisions from Friday to Sunday.

The South West will be represented by sides from Bunbury, Busselton-Margaret River, Harvey-Leschenault and Warren-Blackwood, while teams from Peel, Albany, the Great Southern, South Midlands, Northern Stars and Esperance will also be competing.

This year’s carnival will also feature a female competition for the first time, which is made up by four over-40 sides — three comprised of players from the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association and a WA Veterans Cricket representative side.

WA Country Cricket Board chair Rob Marshall said organisers had been buoyed by the level of female interest in the carnival.

“We got quite surprised, we threw the line out there to the ladies expecting that we might get two teams and even considered doing just a feature game on one of the days,” he said.

“Instead, the numbers grew rapidly and suddenly we had four teams.

“It’s already filling itself out to be a feature of future carnivals.”

Marshall said WA’s regions were leading the way in getting veterans on the cricket field.

“We started the revolution . . . the Perth veterans now look on with great envy with what we’ve got down here because they don’t have anything like that,” he said.

“The West Australian Veterans Cricket program has really only been in place for the last seven or eight years, whereas we’re into our 13th year of the masters carnival.

“There’s definitely an uptake in numbers around the South West, it’s been great to see teams from Busselton-Margaret River and Warren-Blackwood and teams spread around the South West really grasp the opportunity.”

The carnival will see 50 games played across seven venues over the three days, with Marshall saying it had grown from beginning with six teams in 2012 into being “quite a considerable undertaking”.

“It’s a lot to bring it together, but we celebrate it as a great opportunity for the older generation of cricketers to come together and celebrate the fact they can still play cricket and celebrate those memories,” he said.

All games will be played as T20 matches at grounds around the Greater Bunbury region as well as Busselton, Dunsborough and Capel.

Harvey-Leschenault are the defending champions of both the over-40 and over-50 divisions.