Barbados: Intermediate Cricket Champs Turn Down Promotion (6 May 1998)

May 06 1998

Intermediate Cricket Champs Turn Down Promotion

The Nation

IN WHAT appears to be an unprecedented move, Intermediate powerhouses Dover have turned down their promotion to the Premier Zone for the 1998 Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) season.

Club president Adrian Donovan said yesterday the members of the popular Christ Church club had no desire to move on to a higher division in spite of its outstanding record in the last few seasons.

"The membership is not too keen on playing in the Premiership. We have an aging team and the majority of the guys were looking forward to playing in the regular Intermediate competition because there will be no cricket on Sundays in that division this year," Donovan told NATIONSPORT.

"A number of players have joined the club this season with a view to playing Intermediate."

One such player is former Wanderers, Barbados, Gloucestershire and West Indies "B" all-rounder Vibert Greene.

Donovan said Dover had not yet received any official correspondence from the BCA informing them of their promotion, adding that they learnt of the news through newspaper reports.

On hearing of their promotion, the club immediately despatched a letter to the BCA stating their non-interest to move into the Premier Division.

BCA business manager Rollins Howard yesterday confirmed receipt of Dover's letter. He added that the matter would be discussed at a BCA board meeting this evening.

Howard, though, expressed surprise at Dover's decision.

"For years teams have been arguing about a promotion-demotion system. Now that a team has been promoted and shows no interest, seems to be strange," Howard said.

Dover, one of the most consistent teams in the Intermediate competition, earned the promotion on the strength of their impressive performance since the turn of the 90s.

After winning the title in 1992 and 1993, they followed up with back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997. In addition, they were also the Barbados Fire Shield champions in the early 1990s.

The BCA recently announced that as a result of several requests in 1997 and in previous years, it was decided that competition in the Intermediate Zones "A", "B" and "C" and the Schools' Competition would be played only on Saturdays this season.

Sunday cricket will be restricted only to the Division 1 and Premier Zone competitions and Donovan said his men, most of whom are now on tour with a Pioneer Cavaliers team in Guyana and Trinidad, want to play strictly on Saturdays.

"The majority of our players are in it for enjoyment and as a form of a social activity," he said.

"The schedule will be too demanding. We do not want to play back-to-back days.

"Five days of work and two days of cricket are not what we want."

The 1998 season opens on May 23, and the BCA will hold its annual pre-season meeting with clubs and schools on May 13 in the board room at Kensington Oval starting at 5:30 p.m.

Fixtures for first round matches in all divisions are yet to be released.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)