IN a testament to cricket's popularity in the area, the Upper Hunter District Cricket Association (UHDCA) is bucking the trends of many country competitions by increasing their participation levels for the 2019/20 season.
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An additional Muswellbrook side will enter the tournament, although the biggest shake up will come in the form of new guidelines regarding match-day squads.
This season 12 players will be able to take part in the game, with a batter who doesn't bowl and a bowler who doesn't bat.
This has been introduced in an attempt to compensate for shift workers who may only be able to play half a match - although if that's not an issue for a side there's always the possibility to just keep your gun bowler with a batting average of 1 in the sheds during the run chase.
While the introduction of Muswellbrook South, the town's third team, will provide a challenge in terms of fixtures, UHDCA president Tim Johnson said he was seeing extremely encouraging signs ahead of the upcoming campaign.
"The big positive for me is probably the participation, it's just great to see more people wanting to play the game and get involved," he said.
The association will look introduce some new ideas to help address match schedules, including some multi-pronged match days throughout the year.
"One of the things we're trialling this year will be a couple of carnival type rounds where we'll play two 20/20 games on a Saturday afternoon as opposed to a full 40 over game," he said.
"It will be similar to what the NRL did last year with the magic round in Brisbane."
Johnson has seen an overhaul of the competition since taking over as president two years ago, with Muswellbrook rejoining and a cluster of juniors being debuted throughout a number of sides.
Yet, he has still found time to turn out for the Bushrangers each week and said his love for the game is as strong as ever.
"I just enjoy the challenge, I'm a bit old school so I really enjoy that battle of bat and ball and I actually find it quite relaxing and almost meditating concentrating on one ball at a time," he said.
"Across the competition certainly the camaraderie is enjoyable, we've got a lot of really good guys involved in this zone and I think they just enjoy their cricket.
"We don't take it too seriously but it's competitive enough that there's something there for those who want to play the sport just to be involved, and something there for those who want to challenge themselves too."
In a true sign that he's adapted to the presidency role, he refused to single out particular players or teams that he thinks may perform well this season, but expressed his excitement in regards to the John Bull Shield side and their efforts over the past few seasons.
UHDCA even attempted to field two teams in the tournament this season in an effort to give some up and coming stars a chance at a higher level, although it was eventually knocked back due to other zones being unable to nominate two squads as well.