The long-term survival of the Grampians Cricket Association is uncertain

“The response to the crisis meeting was really good. It shows that people care about cricket,” Dean said.

“We were quite impressed.

“Of course we don’t want cricket to disappear. We will do everything we can to ensure that cricket stays.

“Dissolution is our very last resort and we will do everything we can to keep it alive. We just need to find some answers and some extra help.”

Mr Dean said the GCA is failing to retain young players for the seniors, resulting in a shortage of senior players aged between 16 and 30.

“I’m not 100 percent sure whether kids find the step up from under-16s to senior cricket too big a step,” he said.

“You have guys in the 30 to 40 age group who are really into it, and guys in their 40s to 50s or sometimes 60s who are still trying to keep the clubs going but prefer to stay in the background and let the younger guys take over.

“A few clubs are having some problems keeping board positions filled. The GCA is also having those problems.

“There are several people wearing multiple hats to keep things running.”

Mr Dean said it is important for the GCA to encourage youth participation in Ararat.

“We would like to see a few more under-16 teams from Ararat. We have a city with over 10,000 inhabitants and there is not a single under-16 team from the entire city,” he said.

“Increasing youth participation will have to be a key focus.

“Whether it’s about increasing the age categories to under-14 and under-17 to give them an opportunity to play an extra year and build their confidence, I’m not sure.

“We had the Woolworths Cricket Blast a few years ago at Alexandra Oval and we had over 60 participants. That means there is definitely interest from kids, but there is a lot of competition from things like futsal and basketball.

“It might be a case of finding a better day that works. At the moment the under-16s play on a Friday, so does that affect the participation rate of people who play futsal and not cricket?

“We’ve tried it on a couple of different days, but maybe we should try one that we haven’t tried yet and see if we can improve the numbers.”

Mr Dean encouraged people to consider joining the club as a director or junior coach, even if they were not currently playing cricket.

“Just because you don’t play for a team doesn’t mean you can’t be involved. We hope people will put their hands up and help,” he said.

“We have one or two teams left in Ararat, but they are still quite young. So we could use someone who says, ‘I want to coach and help the kids.’”

“People can send us questions. We plan to hold our AGM on Monday, August 18th.

“All members of the public are welcome to attend – it’s not just for the cricket clubs, anyone who wants to come along and have their say is welcome.”