Significant changes to MTN40 tournament

If all other sports have substitutes, why shouldn't cricket? The question was from a cricketer who may just have been seduced by the marketing speak, or may have landed upon an interesting point; either way, he'll remain nameless. He was speaking at the launch of the MTN40 and was posing his question because many members of his franchise were opposed to the use of substitutes in cricket.

South Africa's 40-over competition this season will feature not one, but two substitutes, allowing teams to name 13-member squads for every match. Unlike the last time substitutes were used, the starting eleven does not have to be named before the toss. Only the squad of 13 has to be named, allowing certain players to play specialist roles.

That's the biggest change in the second season of this competition. The other adjustment to playing conditions is a Powerplay change. There will only be two Powerplays; the first one is allocated to the first ten overs, and the second, is a five-over power-play that can be taken any time before the 31st over on the request of the batting side.

The competition's structure has also been tweaked. The six franchises have been divided into two groups of three teams each. Each team will play the other two teams in its own group twice (home and away) and play the three teams in the other group only once. Each franchise plays seven round-robin matches. The semi-finals will be played in the best-of-three format with the final scheduled for December 10. The day matches will start at 11am local time and the day-night games at 4pm.

Gerald Majola , the chief executive officer of Cricket South Africa (CSA) said the changes have been made because CSA anticipates that the ODI format will be modified after next year's World Cup, so it wants to be ready for all possibilities. England and Australia are also experimenting with their 40-over competitions and Majola believes the three countries will have valuable inputs for the ICC come 2011. "Together with the other countries, we will compare and discuss what works and what doesn't and then there may be changes to the format of the World Cup after next year."

This season's competition gets underway in Durban on October 29. Last year's runners-up, the Dolphins, will be hosting the Cape Cobras. It's a Cape-Natal rivalry of a special kind; on October 30, the rugby teams - Western Province and the Sharks - from the two provinces, will square-off in the final of the country's premier rugby competition, the Currie Cup.

The next two MTN40 games will be played on October 31 - the Lions play the Knights in Potchefstroom and the Warriors take on the Titans in Port Elizabeth.