IT'S been a wild ride in the Royal Hotel Cup this season and a match hasn't even been played yet, but clubs have finally got their hands on the draft of what will hopefully be the final draw for the Twenty20 competition.
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Orange District Cricket Association (ODCA) originally had six teams automatically qualify for the pool stage, while City Colts, Bathurst City and ORC would battle it out for the final two spots but washouts meant the three teams couldn't play.
It was ultimately decided last week that the qualifiers would be done away with, with the three Bathurst clubs now progressing, joining St Pat's Old Boys, Rugby Union, Orange City, CYMS, Cavaliers and Centrals in the pool stage.
That left organisers with nine teams, but a late call from Lithgow Lightning meant there would be an even amount of teams.
ODCA president Mark Frecklington said there'll be two pools of five, with the top two teams progressing to the semi-finals.
"It's been rather frustrating, the opening month of the season with the washouts. It's nice to have the opportunity to reset and get the draw locked in," he said.
"It was a bit of a squeeze to get the matches to fit in, but we've managed to get something to work. It's good."
Pool A will feature Bathurst City, Centrals, City Colts, Orange City and Rugby Union, while pool B will have Cavaliers, CYMS, Lithgow Lightning, ORC and St Pat's Old Boys.
While venues haven't been 100 per cent confirmed for the non-Friday night games, there'll be quite a few Sunday games and even two on Wednesday night, with Bathurst potentially hosting four pool games.
The first two games Bathurst have been drafted to host are on December 4, where Rugby will face Redbacks and Saints will host Lithgow.
Lithgow will play ORC is Bathurst on Saturday, January 7, while Loco Oval has been drafted to host Colts and Rugby on Sunday, February 5.
There are currently nine Sunday games scheduled throughout the entire competition, while there'll be 11 Friday night games (including semi-finals and the final), all held at Orange's Wade Park.
"There's an opportunity for some of those Sunday games to be played in Bathurst," Frecklington said.
"A few of those games are Bathurst versus Bathurst teams and or Lithgow. That's what most of the confirmation we need to wait on is whether the grounds are available."
The qualifying round received some mix opinions, especially among the Bathurst clubs competing in them.
Colts skipper David Henderson was highly critical of format, saying it was "unfair" and "frustrating".
Frecklington said the decision to originally go with the qualifying format was to avoid playing on Sundays.
"We'll review that for next season. The ideal [of the qualifiers] was to get away from playing on Sundays because if we went back to an eight-team competition, it actually fits rather nicely into the available Friday nights we have," he said.
"That was the reason we were going to the qualifiers. I understand that might've been a bit unusual or some may have not liked that. I guess we'll sit down and have a look at that next year and see how it goes.
"At the end of the day, if clubs are happy to play Sundays, we'll fit them in. But you've got to dodge rep and everything else on a Sunday. While that's not impossible, it's nice to avoid it if you can.
"Last season we had wash outs on the Sunday early in the season, which didn't help us. I appreciate that can happen anytime too."
St Pat's Old Boys are the reigning Royal Hotel Cup champions.
The 2022-23 Royal Hotel Cup season is expected to get underway on Friday, November 18, when Orange City and City Colts do battle at Wade Park.
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