TUESDAY TANTRUM column with Gerard Walsh

IT COULD be a hot Condamine Sports Club Warwick Australia Day Cricket Carnival this year.

The weather was hot at the weekend and will be as hot if not hotter this weekend.

For the first time in a little while, the Australia Day carnival will be over three days.

When the carnival started more than 40 years ago, the Australia Day holiday was on the nearest Monday.

No one could argue against the change to have Australia Day on the day it fell.

The one thing the change did was to reduce the number of three-day carnivals to three in every seven years.

When the carnival started, it was one limited over game per team per day, not the current five T20 games per team on a three-day weekend and six games for the two finalists in the competitive competition.

The other major change in the carnival has been the introduction of competitive and social competitions.

There is still a competition for the social teams but they are more likely the ones where ducks will be celebrated as much if not more than runs.

I have written it before and write it again that the teams have behaved pretty well down the years.

As the reporter who usually calls the police to find out what happened on a Saturday night, I must say it is a long time since I reported on any trouble relating to the cricket weekend.

The carnival is a bit like the Boxing Day races, a chance for players to catch up with friends, family and plenty of old schoolmates.

Events brings thousands of dollars to communities and it is great when there are no negatives to go with it.

The carnival also takes cricket to some centres like Yangan and Killarney where there is not regular cricket.

This year, Queens Park is an absolute picture after the upgrade to the playing surface organised by the Warwick District Football Association.