Western Zone chairman Mark Frecklington said the competition, last won by the Bathurst District Cricket Association two years ago, will return this season after previous administration deemed the tournament had “gone backwards” in the five years it ran from 2011-12.

Frecklington said the opening round of the tournament, which will be a double-header on the weekend of October 7 and 8, will serve as the ideal tool for zone selectors as they endeavour to pick a squad capable of defending last year’s NSW Country Championship win.

Cowra, Parkes, Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange representative sides have already nominated for the 2017-18 WPL – numbers which justify Western Zone’s move to reinstate it.

“We’ve moved away from Inter-Council stuff as primary means of finalising a zone team,” he said, with no plans for the old Mitchell, Lachlan and Macquarie senior clashes scheduled this summer.

Those games had only returned to the schedule last summer.

“I think last year was a bit of an aberration. The idea to can [the WPL] was tossed around (last year) and that was the way we went, but as soon as it was gone players called for it to be back,” Frecklington continued.

“I think it’s best for the zone to have it back.”

Western takes on North Coastal in its opening round clash of the country championship on November 3 – which is two weeks earlier than last season’s round one clash.

“We’d want the team picked a couple of weeks before that, too,” Frecklington said.

“So we’ve got the Saturday-Sunday stuff to kick it off.”

He said the WPL’s early start – most associations start their club competitions on the same weekend – won’t be a problem for any cricketers holding aspirations to play representative cricket this summer.

“They’ve probably already started their preparations for the season,” he explained.

There’s another round of WPL cricket scheduled for Sunday, October 22, too.

A Western Zone squad for the NSW Country Championship is likely to be picked after that third round.

Frecklington confirmed last year’s coach Matt Crawley won’t be at the helm of the zone side this summer after standing down from the post.

“We haven’t finalised the coach yet, but we will soon and Greg Nichols will manage the side again,” he said.

Bathurst will travel to face Dubbo on October 7 for their opening game – a rematch of the 2015-16 season’s grand final. On the following day Bathurst has the bye.