LW: Good to have you back on deck this week Bourkey.
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And it looks like you brought back the heat with you from your traditional January spell out in the paddock.
It's shaping as a quiet weekend for sport in Bendigo thanks to temperatures forecast in the 40s.
Have you got any stories of playing sport in those sort of temperatures that you look back on now and just think WHY?
AB: To be honest, I can't remember having to spend long days in the field in 40-plus degree heat during my not so illustrious cricket career.
I'm sure there were hot days, but there's nothing that sticks in the memory bank as a nightmare experience.
I know our former colleague Travis King is very keen to see the BDCA matches abandoned this Saturday.
It seems he's gone soft since dumping journalism to work on his modelling career. He's worried about too much sun ruining his looks.
LW: Probably the worst day I can remember playing a game of cricket on was about 10 years ago for the mighty Stanhope at Tongala.
It must have been mid-40 degrees and even with the extra drinks breaks, it was horrendous and pure torture... not the way sport is meant to be. A duck didn't help the cause either.
That day at Tongala turned me off playing cricket for about three years, and considering how I fared when I came back to the game with Kangaroo Flat, I probably would have been better off staying retired for life.
As for this weekend, there has been plenty of discussion around Bendigo this week on heat policies and when is it too hot to play sport?
Those who grace the sporting fields, courts, tracks and greens around Bendigo on a Saturday afternoon do so for fun, and there ain't no fun when the temperature is up around the 40 degree mark.
Not to mention the health dangers associated.
Sporting administrators need to make sure the wellbeing of their competitors is their No.1 priority when we have temperatures like those forecast this weekend.
AB: From a cricket point of view, the fact this Saturday is day one of two-day matches in the BDCA and EVCA makes the decision a no-brainer.
Have this Saturday off and play one-day matches next week.
With cricket, you also have to think of the umpires.
Most of our cricket umpires are on the wrong side of 45 and it's a tough gig to be standing in the sun for that period of time.
How will you be beating the heat this weekend?
I'm sure you've done some of your finest work at the Stanhope public pool. That could be the spot for you, I reckon.
LW: Always a good time to be had at the Stanhope pool, so it could be an option now that you mention it.
What may also be an option in a couple of weeks is a trip down to the MCG for the Melbourne Country Week Provincial Group final if Bendigo makes it.
What an experience it will be for the two finalists to play on the MCG and a great initiative by the Victorian Country Cricket League.
AB: It's a shame the day of the Country Week final clashes with your first aid training here at work.
Looks like I'll be heading to the G instead.