WITH nine consecutive grand final successes Bathurst has been the dominant force in the Mitchell Cricket Council's President's Cup competition, yet this season there will be no title defence.
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Mitchell president Mark Frecklington confirmed the President's Cup, formerly the jewel in the council's crown, has been put on the back-burner amid a bulging representative schedule.
Bathurst cruised to a seven-wicket win over Orange in last season's President's Cup grand final, an unbeaten 88 off 89 deliveries from Imran Qureshi the highlight.
There does remain every chance the competition will return in future seasons, but with a beefed-up Western Zone Premier League (WZPL) there proved to be little room to move in terms of scheduling the President's Cup this summer.
The composite Mid West side entered this summer's WZPL and created an extra game for the five incumbent sides in Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Parkes and Cowra, creating somewhat of a logistical nightmare to schedule the President's Cup around them.
With the Blue Mountains and Mudgee regularly competing and a final to be played as well Orange, at least, opted against competing in a possible President's Cup this summer.
"It would have been tough to schedule all those games around the Western Zone Premier League and we felt it would have created too congested a representative season," Frecklington said.
"It's a year-by-year thing now and there's certainly still the opportunity for the President's Cup to return but it will depend on circumstances surrounding other competitions.
"The Twenty20 Cup will still be contested, we're just waiting on confirmation of teams before we confirm the draw."
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Frecklington confirmed Cowra have been invited to contest the Twenty20 Cup as well, with an eye on creating a genuine, all-encompassing selection tool for the Central West Wranglers' Cricket NSW Plan B Regional Bash campaign.
The President's Cup demise has also led to the resurrection of the Rod Hartas Trophy, which provides the likes of the Blue Mountains and Mudgee a chance to play representative cricket.
"Gulgong are also competing this year and Bathurst has entered a second XI too," Frecklington said, that second-tier competition begins this weekend.
Nine-time consecutive President's Cup champions Bathurst won't have the chance to win a 10th title on the trot, obviously, and their Hartas Cup campaign will feature very different faces to their WZPL bid.
Players who make WZPL appearances are deemed ineligible to play in the second-tier Hartas Cup, unless given special dispensation, as Matt Fearnley and Clint Moxon have in Sunday's clash with Mudgee.
