Newcastle representative cricket coach Shane Burley said he was "really disappointed" the city's T20 team, better known as the Steel, had been cut from the state capital's top competition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After six seasons in the Sydney-based NSW Premier T20 Cup, Burley labelled the move a "backward step" for Newcastle.
The Steel are one of four NSW Country sides set for a stint on the sidelines with ACT, Illawarra and Central Coast also not part of the program in 2019-2020.
"We're really disappointed not to be playing again," Burley told the Newcastle Herald.
"And from an overall pathway perspective it's quite a backward step, especially with such an importance now put on T20 cricket."
The flow-on effect means "Newcastle won't put its best T20 team on the paddock" this summer".
The district will again field two outfits, the Newcastle Blasters and Lake Mac Attack, in the NSW Country tournament called the T20 Regional Bash.
The stand-alone NSW Country Championships are made up of one-day fixtures.
A 31-man pre-season squad has been released by Newcastle selectors with training to start next weekend. They play a trial against Manly next month.
Meanwhile, Newcastle pair Jack Hartigan and Aidan Cahill were named in the ACT-NSW Country squad to play at the under-17 national championships in Mackay from September 30.
SQUAD: Nathan Price (c), Brad Aldous, Kain Anderson, Daniel Arms, Daniel Bailey, Rahul Bakshi, Ben Balcomb, Matthew Bench, Aaron Bills, Adrian Chad, Brendon Charlton, Jed Dickson, Tom Dwyer, Nick Foster, Josh Geary, Rhys Hanlon, Andrew Harriott, Patrick Huolahan, Nathan Hudson, James King, Mitch Lole, Patrick Magann, Zac McGuigan, Jacob Montgomery, Sam O'Sullivan, Dylan Robertson, James Rushford, Andrew Somerville, Josh Westwood, Matthew Willett, Aaron Wivell.
