Sport
10 October, 2025
Talbot removes itself from MDCA’s A reserve a week before the season begins
On the eve of the Maryborough District Cricket Association’s (MDCA) upcoming season, Talbot Cricket Club has been forced to pull out of senior cricket for 2025/26.
The Yabbies were scheduled to participate in the MDCA’s expanded A reserve competition after making the finals in the last four seasons, including a semi-final berth in 2024/25.
However, according to club president Karl Gunther, a lack of player availability has effectively forced the club’s hand to make the tough decision to forego the upcoming season.
“It’s with great sadness and disappointment that this season our Talbot Cricket Club senior side in A reserve will be pulling out of the coming season,” he said in a statement published on the club’s Facebook page.
“(We) will definitely be throwing everything at getting the side back bigger and stronger for the 2026/2027 season, we thank all our sponsors for committing this season and we will be hoping for the same again next season.”
The upcoming A reserve season, scheduled to start next Saturday, October 18, will now shift to a nine-team competition, with teams allocated to face the Yabbies each week receiving the bye.
Talbot is still scheduled to be playing cricket in the upcoming MDCA season, with their junior team in the under 13s preparing for their first match on Tuesday, October 21 against Maryborough.
Player unavailability has been a consistently plaguing issue for the MDCA, with clubs like Carisbrook and Maryborough forced to take extended sabbaticals from A grade recently after only having the players to field one side in A reserve.
While both Carisbrook and Maryborough were able to make a successful return to A grade, the same can’t be said currently for the Natte Yallock Cricket Club, who entered into recess at the start of last season due to a lack of numbers and hasn’t returned for the upcoming season.
According to MDCA’s president, Aaron McHoul, Talbot’s withdrawal signifies the importance of encouraging local kids to take up playing cricket.
“The problem that we are having is trying to get kids to play sport,” he said.
“Karl and I had a good talk about it on Wednesday night and basically we have just got to work on the future.
“Hopefully we can get young kids involved in playing cricket and then they can step up to play A reserve or A grade.”