Cricket Shepparton's executive voted unanimously Tuesday night to cancel the remainder of the season, based on Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria advice to cancel games at all levels this weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The association cited rule 37.2 (c) of its rulebook to award Numurkah the A-grade premiership, based on it being the grand final's highest-ranked regular season team.
After training Tuesday night, Laker captain, and back-to-back Lightfoot medallist, Mark Nolan was tasked with letting his charges know their title shot was no more.
“It's a pretty shit thing to have had to do, but at the same time this whole situation is bigger than sport,” Nolan said.
“The president rang me and told us the decision. It's shattering, we'd put in plenty of hard work and sweat into the season, and we were never eliminated from finals.
“The boys are pretty shattered and disappointed. We'd had a good net session even though we weren't too sure, but when I found out it was pretty hard to have to tell the boys.”
While the CS rules make it a cut and dried decision, it is hard not to feel for the Lakers after the sixth-ranked finals qualifier charged to the grand final with two powerful wins — including a 103-run triumph against their scheduled grand final opponent.
But the respectful Nolan paid tribute to the talented Numurkah side, refusing to criticise the association's decision.
“Not really — the rules are there,” he said.
“Numurkah has been a class team all year and headed to finals on top for a reason. But we did beat them a couple of weeks ago which makes it a bit harder to take, but it's out of our hands.
“We'll move on, we'll reflect on the season and it's still a pretty good achievement to have made the grand final.”
“The boys were really, really keen to play. They were trying to work out other options so we could get a game, but there's nothing you can do, sometimes in life things just don't go your way.”
In two seasons in the Haisman Shield, the Lakers haven't missed finals and have shown themselves to not just fit in at the higher level — they have already become one of the league's power players.
“We'd been pretty up and down, but our last two weeks I thought it was our best cricket for a long time,” Nolan said.
“We had great momentum, I hope everyone sticks around because we've certainly got unfinished business.”
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