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Speaker 1: Now we learned yesterday that Cricket Australia has decided that

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Speaker 1: three One Day Internationals between Australia and Zimbabwe are going

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Speaker 1: to be played in Townsville in late August and early

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Speaker 1: September as a warm up for the T twenty World Cup.

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Speaker 1: The Northern Territory missing out after lobbying obviously to have

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Speaker 1: the game or some of those games played here, but

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Speaker 1: NTA Cricket is still very confident of getting an international

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Speaker 1: game in the territory. And I am joined in the

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Speaker 1: studio by nt Cricket CEO Joel Morrison. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Joel.

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Speaker 1: A little bit of sad news I suppose for us

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Speaker 1: for this year, but it sounds as though it's not

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Speaker 1: all bad.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, clearly disappointed that we were in a position to

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Speaker 2: get the ODI this year, but there's a clear intent

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Speaker 2: from Cricket Australia and they've come out and confirmed this

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Speaker 2: over the last twenty four hours that they want to

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Speaker 2: bring international cricket back to Darwin. So the work we

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Speaker 2: completed this year wasn't in vain and we now really

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Speaker 2: know the cost thresholds we need to hit to secure

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Speaker 2: our future matches. In the next couple of years, and

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Speaker 2: we expect to see what those real life opportunities will

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Speaker 2: be in the coming months when the International Cricket Council

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Speaker 2: announces their new Future Tool program which outlines where international

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Speaker 2: cricket is going to be played over the next four

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Speaker 2: to five years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so we'll have a much clearer idea later this.

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Speaker 2: Year, that's right. So we'll have a really good understanding

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Speaker 2: of what the series are, who the opposition will be,

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Speaker 2: and then what formats of the game they are in

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Speaker 2: contention for hosting matches in the North of Australia over

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Speaker 2: the winter months.

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Speaker 1: Now, obviously the drop in wicket was a prohibitive factor

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Speaker 1: here was.

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Speaker 2: Nash, that's right. That was the key issue in terms

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Speaker 2: of cost comparative to Townsville who ended up securing the series

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Speaker 2: because they have natural turf wickets within their venue already,

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Speaker 2: which Too Stadium doesn't and TiO Stadium is the internationally

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Speaker 2: accredited venue in dah And so we have to play there.

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Speaker 2: So the good news is we now understand that the

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Speaker 2: current dropping wicket configuration we have needs to be changed

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Speaker 2: so that we can make these events cost effective, and

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Speaker 2: we're about to commence that work with the NTI government

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Speaker 2: over the coming months to get cricket back played at

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Speaker 2: the stadium next year throughout Cricket three VI program, which

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Speaker 2: will give us the operational and cost efficiencies to make

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Speaker 2: these events more feasible moving forward. So rather than coming

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Speaker 2: from a standing star where we haven't had an international

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Speaker 2: cricket here for fourteen years, we've got cricket regularly played

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Speaker 2: at the venue and we understand how it can bring

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Speaker 2: those costs down from an event point of view for

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Speaker 2: Cricket Australia.

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Speaker 1: And so do we have any idea how much it

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Speaker 1: will cost or still early days?

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Speaker 2: Well, notionally the move was going to cost around about

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Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty two one hundred and seventy thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars and we're looking to try and take off at

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Speaker 2: least one hundred thousand dollars of that with some cost

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Speaker 2: efficiencies into making modifications to the wicket trades. So it's

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Speaker 2: a little bit complicated, but effectively at the moment it's

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Speaker 2: one big piece. It weighs about thirty tons, it's twenty

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Speaker 2: five meters, so it's really difficult to move across the

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Speaker 2: road from our cricket facady to Toio Stadium and then

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Speaker 2: back again. Well it sounds a bit crude. You're going

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Speaker 2: to cut it in half. That's all about board and

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Speaker 2: then put in price to the appropriate footings that we

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Speaker 2: need at Toyo Stadium so that when we do put

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Speaker 2: it in in the two pieces, it doesn't move around

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Speaker 2: during the match, which is pretty important, which is why

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Speaker 2: it was one piece initially, but just cost prohibitive. Make

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Speaker 2: those modifications and it's done elsewhere, so we should be

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Speaker 2: able to make it more feasible to stage game.

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Speaker 1: You mean business, don't you like you want these international games?

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Speaker 1: Anti cricket wants these games here.

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Speaker 2: We're taking it seriously. That's where the great opportunity is

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Speaker 2: for cricket both locally and nationally is unlocking the winter

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Speaker 2: opportunity in the North to extend the fixture of matches

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Speaker 2: that are played rather than just having them in the

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Speaker 2: six months over summer down south, we can extend those

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Speaker 2: fixtures into whether it's August or July or June in

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Speaker 2: the Northern state, so that does still mean North Queensland

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Speaker 2: as well as Dull in the Northern Territory to make

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Speaker 2: it more cost effective to deliver matches, but then also

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Speaker 2: to open up flexible fixturing opportunities because so much cricket

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Speaker 2: played now Katie, whether it's the thing men's and women's international,

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Speaker 2: domestic T twenty fifty over test matches, so we think

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Speaker 2: there's a great case to play more of that content

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Speaker 2: in Northern Australia.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, And then I mean you see the on flow

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Speaker 1: obviously of sports being played in the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 1: indeed in darh And when it comes to tourism, business

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Speaker 1: people getting out and about. So the more of that event,

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Speaker 1: cricket and sport in general that you can bring to

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Speaker 1: the territory I would think the better.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's big dollars coming into the economy and we

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Speaker 2: see that with the likes of the AFL matches and

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Speaker 2: the ROL matches that are being played here at the moment,

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Speaker 2: and cricket opens up a whole new dimension in that

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Speaker 2: when we're talking international cricket were then broadcast darl into

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Speaker 2: the world in addition to the people who will then

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Speaker 2: travel to come to the territory during the dry season.

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Speaker 2: So it's a big economic driver for the town and

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Speaker 2: we see that being the key point for while we're

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Speaker 2: prosecuting this case with business and government and what else

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Speaker 2: is on.

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Speaker 1: The agenda when it comes to cricket throughout this year.

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Speaker 1: I know it's going to be a busy one already is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no shortage of cricket being played, and our

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Speaker 2: Cricket three to sixty five program goes into U two,

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Speaker 2: which we're really excited about. And while we don't have

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Speaker 2: the international match, we will have BBL clubs, the Melbourne Renegades,

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Speaker 2: the Melbourne Stars in Darwen playing against the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: in our Top end T twenty series. So there's a

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Speaker 2: great opportunity to see Australia's best young players up here

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Speaker 2: in Darwin playing two months of high quality cricket, plus

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Speaker 2: some elite teams that are going to be taking on

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory in that top end series.

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Speaker 1: How does that begin.

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Speaker 2: Cricket three six five starts at the end of June

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Speaker 2: the twenty sixth and runs all the way through until

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Speaker 2: the twenty first of August. So there's certainly plenty of

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Speaker 2: action out there for cricket lovers.

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Speaker 1: There really is, and not to mention you know, everybody

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Speaker 1: else just getting out and about and playing cricket, maybe

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Speaker 1: not at that level. But at a very fun social

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Speaker 1: and just you know the grade level too.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's cricket for men, women, boys and girls throughout

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Speaker 2: our clubs. There's the opportunity to play indoor cricket as well,

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Speaker 2: and we have our junior competitions kicking off as well,

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Speaker 2: which will see some interstate school teams coming up to

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Speaker 2: play in Northern Territory teams as well. So plenty on offer.

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Speaker 1: And I know not too long ago as well, you

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Speaker 1: had a bit of a come and dry day I

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Speaker 1: think it was for females to come and have a

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Speaker 1: crack at cricket. How did that go in terms of

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Speaker 1: getting some of the women involved.

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Speaker 2: Really well, for the first time ever, we've got every

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Speaker 2: single Darwin Cricket club that has a women's team now

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Speaker 2: playing on Friday nights. So the team and the club

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Speaker 2: have done and all the clubs have done the great

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Speaker 2: job in terms of getting more girls into the sport.

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Speaker 2: So we still have those series going every fortnight at

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Speaker 2: de X Arena to help those who are playing crecket

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Speaker 2: for the first time build their skills. But yeah, plenty

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Speaker 2: of action on Friday nights and it's great to see.

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Speaker 1: All good stuff. Well. John Morrison CEO of NT Cricket.

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Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up with you mate, Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for your time and your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,