Mackay hosts Australia’s first T20 cricket Bash for Cash

Teams from Mackay, Townsville, Bundaberg, Toowoomba and Brisbane will be battling it out at Harrup Park Country Club for Australia’s first open registration T20 cricket tournament.

The inaugural MI Scaffold Great Barrier Reef Arena T20 Bash for Cash competition will have the Queensland teams competing for a share in the total prize pool of $40,000.

The competition is set to run from the May 1-3, with games being played at Mackay Harrup Park Country Club with the final scheduled for the Great Barrier Reef Arena.

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Great Barrier Reef Arena facility manager John Stock said the venue was the only place a competition like the Bash for Cash could be held, with six turf ovals and two under lights.

“This complex is ideal for tournaments, a cricketer’s dream that the major capital city grounds can’t match,” he said.

“It is without a doubt the best lit facility in Queensland that club cricketers have access to.”

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Mr Stock hoped the games would become an important annual event for Mackay with more teams and specifically including a women’s T20 competition.

Organisers said they were expecting thousands of local spectators to attend the matches while the tournament itself would provide a “substantial boost to the Mackay economy”.