Ballarat hits a six with national cricket coup

Ballarat will host the 2020 National Under 15 Male Cricket Championships for the first time from February 20-27.

The City of Ballarat and Ballarat Cricket Association is proud to host this key cricket event after Ballarat successfully hosted the National Under 18 Female Cricket Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019.

The six-day sporting event will feature teams from across Australia playing five matches a day at venues including CE Brown Reserve in Wendouree, Northern Oval Number 2, Eastern Oval, Alfredton Recreation Reserve and Mount Clear Reserve.

As a result of the upgrade, Eastern Oval has become the first regional cricket hub in Victoria. The works were funded through a partnership between the City of Ballarat, Victorian Government and facilitated through Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and the local cricket community.

A team will represent each state and territory while two teams will each represent Victoria and New South Wales.

City of Ballarat Mayor Cr Ben Taylor says Ballarat is playing host to the event on the back of significant council investment into the five sporting facilities – with their playing surfaces recently upgraded for both cricket and AFL.

“Ballarat is fast becoming a key destination for major sporting events,” he says.

“Mars Stadium is Ballarat’s new home of AFL, Super Rugby and now A-League soccer. We also have the Ballarat Sports Events Centre as a destination for major basketball events and we recently hosted the Women’s Big Bash.”

“The City of Ballarat’s investment into cricket playing surfaces has now attracted the 2020 National Under 15 Male Cricket Championships to Ballarat.

“This is certainly exciting for our city and for the sport of cricket. We welcome the cricketers, their families and supporters from across Australia who will descend on Ballarat for this event.”

Ballarat Cricket Association President Rob Florence says “we are so lucky in Ballarat to have a Council so invested into providing quality sporting facilities and are really excited to be a part of another National Cricket Championship”.

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