Launceston - Over 60s Cricket Match

25 February 2014 - The North Tasmanian Cricket Association Ground was the site of two games of cricket between Victoria and Tasmania.

Each year the Victorian Over 60s team plays the Tasmanian Over 60s team but this year there was also competition between Over 70s teams from the two states.

Members of the Victorian teams and their supporters left the motel at 9 am by bus to travel to the cricket ground. The weather was perfect for cricket, fine with a projected temperature of 27 degrees.

The Over 60s match, a 50 over game, was due to start at 10 am however the ground was wet so the start of play was delayed until 10.30. The teams took advantage of the additional time for a warm-up session and, of course, team photos in front of the David Boon Stand.

The Victorian Over 60s team batted first and made 8 for 188 on a slow pitch. After lunch it was the Tasmanians turn to bat and they were all out for 135, a victory for the Victorian team by 53 runs.

In the Over 70s match Tasmania scored 9 for 137. Batting after lunch Victoria had made 145 runs for the loss of two wickets, winning the match by eight wickets.

History is everywhere in Launceston. A plaque on the wall of the David Boon Stand commemorates the first Inter-Colonial First Class Match which was played in Launceston between Port Phillip (Victoria) and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in February 1851 - an important event in the history of Australian cricket.

The streetscape along Racecourse Road near the cricket ground provides interesting examples of older style housing that can be seen throughout many parts of Launceston.

Later in the evening at the motel a combined teams dinner was held where the shields were presented to the captains of the winning teams and the Man of the Match awards were made.  It had been a great day for Victoria despite the thick band of smoke from the Victorian bushfires that covered the ground for about five hours from around 12 o'clock - a reminder of another aspect of summer in Australia.