All was set for the eighth round of the 2021/22 Hoggies Wines Barber Shield season to finish in grand style with three captivating battles around Mount Gambier on Saturday.

While the likes of Penola, South, East and West Gambier were flashing the willow and leather on Saturday afternoon, the North Sportsman’s and Mil Lel players were putting their feet up with play not possible at Marist Park.

The seven-day break splitting the playing days of red ball fixtures usually progresses trouble free, but last week was no ordinary week.

Shockingly the landmark our town was named after was burnt alive from an unexpected fire on Tuesday morning and Marist Park on the edge of its path of destruction.

Although the blaze is now contained, the entire Crater Lakes precinct will be closed for at least a week as damage and hazard assessment takes place.

With hazards such as hot spots and falling trees still a very real threat, the gates to Marist Park will not open until it is safe to do so.

Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association’s George Kidman said the call was out of his hands and this week’s A Grade and Under 14 fixtures at the venue will be treated like a washout with average bonus points being shared between the competing sides.

“Unfortunately those games will be abandoned,” he said.

“We are expecting to know (when the venue will be reopened) by the middle of this week from the council, which will give us plenty of time to plan ahead.

“Marist Park is always a funny one because there is the potential of being locked out on a high fire danger day, so we have had contingency plans in place anyway.

“The efforts from the CFS and Metropolitan Fire Service in conjunction with those fire bombers was amazing and the vision of them was magnificent.”

From a cricket perspective it’s a major blow for the occupants of the stunning cricket ground, the Tigers, who were in the box seat to secure an important win over Mil Lel.

Being sent in under the blazing sun, North’s top order showed it can perform in the toughest of conditions and banged more than 250 runs on the scoreboard led by Elliott Fisher’s breathtaking 95.

After defending much lower scores in recent weeks, the Tigers would have backed themselves to defend the imposing total and score a valuable win to boost their title defence.

However, matters beyond their control stopped them in their tracks and North Sportsman’s captain Nick McInerney is at peace with events being far more important than cricket.

“It is obviously not ideal for anyone, but we are fairly understanding of the situation,” he said.

“We have steps in place for alternative training venues, while the league controls the hosting of games.

“We do not know how long we are out for, but we are hoping to get back in the next week or so, but there is nothing we can really do.

“We will just take it one week at a time and do what we are told.

“So we are not too stressed because it is out of our hands.”

Despite its home ground being out of action, North still managed to get some much-needed practice in by moving its training session to Mount Gambier High School.

The team was hoping to build on its strong performance on the opening day and wrap up victory over Mil Lel.

McInerney said there was a lot to take from the short-lived game with Fisher’s performance particularly poignant.

“We were very pleased with our performance last week and disappointed we are not able to captialise on it, but it is out of our hands,” he said.

“To be honest I have been expecting a big effort from Elliott for a while now because he has shown his capabilities and it was awesome to see it come through for him.

“It was disappointing that he just missed out on the hundred, but we were all very glad to see him perform to his potential. He played with so much confidence and benefited from the strong platform our openers initiated.

“There is nothing we can do and we are just focusing on winning our last two games to hopefully seal a good ladder position and play in some finals.”

The denial of chasing a possible win is a significant blow to North’s hopes of a special four-peat.

Currently sitting fifth on the ladder, the Tigers need to win as much as possible to win the tight race to the semi-finals and the abandoned clash is far from ideal.

However, McInerney is not getting too concerned believing the current situation is a true reflection of where his team sits with a big finale coming up.

“It would have been handy to have the win, but we may have had a loss as well, so we split the points and move on,” he said.

“We are fully aware our position on the ladder is reflective of our season to date because we had a poor start to the year, so we just have to win our last two games.”

Despite the disappointment, McInerney confirmed his team’s famous home ground was in safe hands.

“The home of cricket is still intact,” he said.

“I would just like to reiterate the efforts of everybody who managed the fire to contain it, so we are very blessed and pleased our beautiful home ground is fine.”