Maitland first and second grade cricket will no longer have byes with both competitions to feature eight teams in 2018-19.
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Port Stephens Pythons have been admitted to first grade after dominating the A-grade competition and Tenambit-Morpeth Bulls will field a team in second division.
The Maitland and District Cricket Association has moved the start of senior season back to October 13 instead of October 6 to avoid a clash with school holidays.
The junior season, apart from under-16s which is in line with the senior comp, will start of October 20.
Maitland and District Cricket Association senior vice-president Mark Warland said the addition of Port Stephens and Tenambit-Morpeth would remove the need for a bye this year.
“Initially we had requests from Port, Tenambit-Morpeth and Singleton to run teams in first grade, which would have meant a 10-team competition,” Warland said.
“We felt that Singleton and the Bulls would benefit from another year of getting ready to compete in first grade and have decided to go with eight-team competitions in first and second grade.
“We have asked Tenambit-Morpeth to field a second grade team this season and have given Port Stephens the nod for this year.
“In the case of Singleton we have asked them to re-submit a request next year.”
A bye has existed in first grade since the 2013/14 season when Tenambit-Morpeth withdrew and was part of second grade from 2011-12.
Warland said it was a significant change but one he believed clubs would welcome as there would be no breaks other than the Christmas holiday in the season.
The one-day competition will revert to a six-team A-grade and B-grade fixture.
Port Stephens second XI which was part of a combined A and B-grade competition will move into A-grade.
A-grade will feature Paterson, Port Stephens, Bowthorne, Raworth, SMR and a new team into the competition Rutherford Hotel.
Warland said the first and second grade season had been scheduled to start on October 6, but clubs had been asked to ratify a MDCA committee decision to set it back a week.
The decision means that first through to fifth grades and the one-day competition will now start on October 13.
Cessnock cricket also starts on October 13.
