BDCA cricketers will become some of the first outside the Test and Sheffield Shield arena to use the pink ball this weekend.
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The new-age cricket ball, made famous in recent Adelaide Test matches, will be used for the first time in a round of BDCA games.
Its debut forms part of the association efforts to support the McGrath Foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Kookaburra head of communications Shannon Gill, whose company has donated the balls, said it was an opportunity to give BDCA players exposure to something the game was going to see a lot more of in the future.
“The pink ball is quickly becoming a fixture of international cricket and we’ve been keen to give a top level regional competition the chance to experience it and see what they thought,” he said.
“(Pink Stumps Round) should be the perfect way to give Bendigo cricketers a glimpse of the future while supporting a cause that supports people though Bendigo.”
Despite plenty of debate over the pink ball, Gill said the scores produced at the top-level were on-par with those involving the traditional ball.
“It will be interesting to see how it goes at a local level,” he said.
“We are keen to hear what people think.
“I would think it wouldn’t play too much different, it will be something different to get your eyes used to.”
BDCA vice-president Rob Bakes said clubs had trialled the pink balls at training on Tuesday night and early reports were they “hit the bat hard”.
“We’re a bit unsure how they will go in match conditions, but I suppose there’s a bit of novelty about it,” he said.
“The bowlers will still want to get a bit of swing and a bit of cut, and that’s something Kookaburra will be looking for in terms of feedback.
“A lot of the clubs have their own Pink Stumps Day that they take on, and have done for a few years now, but from an association point of view this is the first timer we have done something like this.”
He said the BDCA was honoured to be one of the first community leagues in the world to use the pink Turf ball.
The McGrath Foundation has two nurses based in the Bendigo region, Rosemary Gillies and Sharon Salter, who look after Bendigo and the Loddon and Mallee regions.
