Canberrans are being forced to choose sides due to a three-way scheduling clash in the nation's capital next Friday.

The Prime Minister's XI is a day-night cricket match at Manuka Oval, the Canberra Vikings are playing their National Rugby Championship semi-final at Viking Park and the Cavalry have their Australian Baseball League season opener against the Brisbane Bandits at Narrabundah Ballpark.

The ABL draw was released on May 11, the PM's XI date was announced July 31 and the ARU set their finals on Tuesday.

Cavalry chief executive Donn McMichael said the sports that could potentially clash would need to work together better.

He was unsure of how much crossover in fans there would be between rugby union and baseball, but felt both their crowd and the cricket's would be affected.

McMichael said the clash meant the Cavalry would miss out on the "floaters" and "roving sports lovers".

"It's very disappointing, there needs to be greater coordination between the sports," he said.

"We announced our draw, it may well have been eight weeks before the PM's game was announced.

"I think it's fairly short-sighted to compete with local sports, so we're very disappointed ... all it's doing is robbing the Canberra sporting public of the opportunity to see everything when it comes and that's obviously counterproductive for everyone.

"I think ACT cricket should have consulted and had the foresight to look."

An ARU spokesperson said they'd realised there could be a clash several weeks ago and had explored several options, including changing the NRC home-and-away schedule to avoid it.

He said their preference was for the Vikings' semi to be played on the Saturday, but the "integrity of the competition" was more important.

While the NRC top four won't be finalised until Sunday, the ARU said it was looking like the Sydney Stars would finish fourth and play the likely minor premiers Brisbane City in one semi, while the Vikings would probably take on Melbourne Rising in the other.

The Rising and Stars play on Sunday, which the ARU considered changing to Saturday but couldn't because it forms the grand finale of a festival of rugby in Melbourne.

They wanted to give the Stars as much time to get home and recover as possible, so opted to lock in their likely game for the Saturday night.

With both semis being broadcasted on Fox Sports they were locked into Friday night and Saturday night games.

"We were keen to give everyone a fair opportunity to prepare properly for the game and given schedules for the last round of the regular season this was the best way to do that," the spokesperson said.

"We consulted with the clubs as well.

"Our preference was to have the Canberra game on the Saturday, but we've a greater duty to maintain the integrity of the competition."

Cricket ACT chief executive Cameron French was hopeful all three sports would be "really well supported".

He was confident the chance to a "world-class" New Zealand under lights against the pink ball would be "pretty attractive".

French was also confident when asked if the clash would affect crowds.

"We hope not. Given we've got an international event against New Zealand, who are quality opposition, we think that we will still have a significant crowd next Friday night," he said.

"While the rugby and the baseball have their supporters, most of the Canberra community love their cricket and we think we'll see a packed house."

Only about 4000 tickets have so far been sold for the PM's game.

CANBERRA'S CLASH

Friday: PM's XI v New Zealand at Manuka Oval at 2pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.

Canberra Cavalry v Brisbane Bandits at Narrabundah Ballpark at 7pm. Tickets available from theabl.com.au.

Canberra Vikings v TBA at Viking Park at 7.30pm. Tickets available from Eventopia.