Not a ball has been bowled at Stawell's Central Park (pictured) this cricket season, causing frustration among the Grampians Cricket Association executive and all A grade clubs.
Central Park, home of the world famous Stawell Gift, has long been regarded as the apple of Stawell's eye.
This is certainly the case at Easter when large crowds flock to the famous arena to witness athletes striving for that piece of Stawell glory. Not a blade of grass is out of place, the surrounds are always freshly cut and structures given a fresh coat of paint, to ensure the best possible image of Stawell is beamed across the world.
However, those in the cricket fraternity might be forgiven for sharing a somewhat different view.
Not a ball has been bowled on Central Park during the 2012-13 season, causing frustration among the Grampians Cricket Association executive and all A grade clubs.
This is in contrast to Ararat's Alexandra Oval - also a council controlled venue - having been up and running since well before Christmas.
The turf at Tatyoon has also been in use since the early rounds, so questions need to be asked why is it that Central Park cannot be ready? After all, football did finish in September!
The GCA executive was advised this week that finally, the turf was ready, but with no use in nine months, is three days of preparation going to be enough, or more to the point is it going to provide a fair playing field for those who are scheduled to play there?
More noise needs to be made by the cricketing fraternity to the powers that be, asking why it takes so long for Stawell's turf wicket to be up and running, when Ararat and Tatyoon can be played on from about round three.
We are all aware too that Easter is in late March this year, so does that mean the oval will be ruled out for cricket early, to ensure everything is ready for the Stawell Gift?
If this is the case, it will mean three, maybe four rounds will be played on the park all season. Any wonder many in Stawell are branding cricket as the forgotten sport when it comes to availability of quality venues!