ONE night after giving the grand finals the green light, the Emu Valley Cricket Association board has abandoned this weekend's flag battles.

Following further information received on Thursday after making the decision to press ahead on Wednesday night with the grand finals, the EVCA pulled the pin following a board meeting on Thursday night.

The EVCA's decision follows recommendations from Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria earlier this week to cancel all cricket in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Bendigo District Cricket Association senior and junior grand finals were also due to be played this weekend, but have also been cancelled.

The EVCA's division one grand final was set to be fought out between United and Emu Creek at Strathfieldsaye's Club Court.

Also fixtured to play this weekend were United vs Mandurang in division two and Mia Mia vs Strathfieldsaye in division three section one.

"We've made the decision to call if off after receiving further information on insurance and responsibility and such and believe it's best not to play in the interests of what's going on at the moment," EVCA president Ron Gray said.

"We received some more definitive definitions today around insurance and liability in regards to health and hence we've made the decision not to go ahead this weekend."

With the grand finals called off, there is still another decision for the EVCA board to make - the awarding of premierships.

"We've got a meeting on Sunday to decide the best action to take in regards to the premierships," Gray said.

"Tonight was hard enough to get through in making the decision about the games going forward or not, so we'll look at the next step on Sunday."

The BDCA also faced the same decision on Thursday night and awarded premierships to the higher-ranked of the two grand final teams.

If the EVCA also opts to award the flags to the higher-ranked teams the premierships would go to United in both division one and two and Mia Mia in division three section one.

"It's incredibly disappointing that there will be no grand finals this weekend," Gray said.

"We got a bit of flack for making the decision to proceed with the games and now I'm sure we'll get it back the other way for not playing.

"It's just one of those unfortunate situations where this decision has to be made and we sympathise with all the players.

"We know they have worked hard over the past six months to get to this point.

"The bottom line though is as Cricket Australia said earlier in the week, society and people's health is more important that a game of cricket."

Gray said Thursday night's decision to cancel the grand finals was the hardest that had been made during his 10 years as EVCA presidnet.

"Cricket Australia has strongly recommended that all amateur cricket played within the community should cease, including community cricket and premier cricket.

"While many competitions are coming to an end, we are mindful that some competitions are only just commencing. However, the recommendation applies to all competitions and training.

"This decision is consistent with the measures taken to safeguard professional cricket at the elite level and is supported by State and Territory Associations.

"Based on expert advice from CA's Chief Medical Officer John Orchard and recent government information, we want to ensure that cricket is doing everything it can to contribute to the global effort to slow, and eventually stop, the spread of coronavirus.

"While cricket is a relatively safe and non-contact sport there are considerable measures that need to be in place to adhere to expert advice around reducing the risk of spreading the virus.

"We focused specifically on minimising the risk and impact on the cricket communities that we lead and serve, as well as their families."

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