Cricket ACT will put up its hand to host Ryobi Cup games next year if the national domestic one-day competition retains the same format. This season's tournament has been condensed into a five-week period from late September to late October at suburban grounds in Sydney.
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Cricket ACT has an agreement with Cricket NSW to bring a Sheffield Shield and a Ryobi Cup game to Canberra, but redevelopment work at Manuka Oval meant it was unable to be used during the one-day competition. That won't be the case next season as the ground's facelift is complete at the end of this year in time for the PM's XI match with England on January 14.
Depending how the Manuka Oval surface recovers from the three AFL games in the winter, Cricket ACT chief executive Mark Vergano said there was no reason Canberra couldn't be included in the Ryobi Cup. ''We'd be looking to assist in the hosting of games certainly within the context of October,'' he said.
''[The Ryobi Cup] has put a huge strain on the Sydney grounds. Next year it's going to be a bit more complex with the depth of grounds with the World Cup at the start of 2015, so we'll be having discussions with Cricket Australia to see what their scheduling is looking like.''
The redeveloped Manuka Oval will host a Sheffield Shield match between the NSW Blues and Western Australia from March 7-10 next year. With Manuka Oval unavailable, Cricket ACT has used the opportunity to take the ACT Meteors on the road for a ''home'' round of the Women's National Cricket League. The Meteors will host the star-studded NSW Breakers at Wagga Wagga's Robertson Oval from November 22-24.