Historic month of local cricket
BY ALEX TIGANI
History was made when Singleton and Cessnock’s senior cricket fraternities combined forces for the first time on Saturday.
Singleton outfits Valley, Glendon, PCH and Cessnock clubs Bellbird Workers and Wine Country celebrated victories in the opening round of the inaugural Coalfields Cup competition and players across the region hope the format is here to stay.
Despite suffering a defeat to his former SDCA side Greta-Branxton’s Joey Butler believes the concept has already been a great hit.
“I think it’ll be more competitive and will be good coming up against different players,” the former Glendon star told The Hunter River Times.
“I’ve played in both competitions and can definitely see it being a massive success.”
This Saturday, Greta-Branxton will hope to open their account with a win against Valley.
The Singleton based powerhouse celebrated a season opening win against archrival JPC at Cook Park 3 thanks a top performance from Isaac Barry.
“I think this format is pretty good actually because it puts some new blood into the comp and it lets us compare how competitive we are compared to Cessnock,” Valley allrounder Isaac Barry added.