The first two rounds of the South West Slopes Cricket League (SWSCL) were abandoned because of bad weather and when the competition did eventually kick off in round three, the Crusaders had a bye. 

There’ll be just two days left in October before the Crusaders get a game, a start so late it has veteran captain Dean Bradley surprised. 

“I’ve never seen a season start like this.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played a rep game before a regular game like I have this year,” Bradley said. 

The rep game Bradley referred to, Cootamundra’s win over Brocklesby, gave some Crusaders players a chance to have a run, but many on the team’s roster will have their first outing this Saturday. 

“It’s been frustrating but you can’t help the weather.

“All the hard work in the off season organising players and everything else, we can finally get out there and play cricket now which is great,” Bradley said. 

The Crusaders’ opposition for their season opener, the Young Ones, suffered a close loss to the Mimosa Whirlwinds last weekend and Bradley hopes to add to their early-season woes. 

“We’ll see if we can try and stamp a bit of authority on the competition,” Bradley said. 

The two teams only met once last season and the Crusaders came away with the points on that occasion but Bradley isn’t worried about past results and is focusing more on what his side need to do this weekend. 

“We’ll just try and worry about ourselves first, stick to disciplined plans with our bowling, work well with the bat and try and bat some overs out to blow a few cobwebs out from the off season,” he said.

The Crusaders face the Young Ones at 1.30pm on Saturday at Albert Park. 

The SWSCL offers up another mouthwatering fixture this weekend as reigning premiers the Mimosa Whirlwinds take on newcomers and current Cowra competition champions the Aussie Hotel Coyotes. 

It promises to be a hard fought tussle to see who can establish dominance early in the competition.