South Africa: UCB in first steps to restructure first-class game (6 Oct 1998)

6 Oct 1998

South Africa; UCB in first steps to restructure first-class game

Trevor Chesterfield In Centurion

Although moves by the United Cricket Board to expand the A Section to 11 teams in time to welcome the new millennium is not unexpected, it has also earned the support of a number of senior players.

The announcement came yesterday at the official launch of this season's SuperSport Series at the television channel's main shop window SuperSport Centurion and comes with the broad support of the senior pay-channel's sports boss Russell Macmillan.

It does away with the fear of some lesser provinces that the A and B section split, at the end of this season, could, in current economic climate, have a catastrophic affects on the growth and development of players and the game in less endowed areas.

Supporting the new-look SuperSport Series in 1999/2000 are several older players, including Rudolf Steyn and Roy Pienaar, who felt the UCB decision to draft North West and Easterns into the A section and expand the number of teams to 11 would contain a number of benefits other than those outlined by the UCB in their announcement

One advantage was playing 10 games a season: two more than the eight the nine teams being played this summer. But each province are to be limited to contractual squad of 16 or 17 players. This would free those fringe players to be placed in a pool from which provinces of lesser strength would be able to draw their players.

This in turn should widen the pool of players, add depth and in the long-term a strength versus strength system. It would al;so, says Steyn and Pienaar, create further avenues and retain the Bowl format which, it has been claimed by a number of players, would give younger players a better platform from which launch a first-class career..

While the UCB's decision to shelve plans to split the teams into two divisions at the end of this season has been welcomed, the view is that A and B divisions would halt the demographic growth of the game, cutting right across the board's development programme policy.

Teams relegated to Division 2 could lose key players as well as young talent on which time and money has been spent.

Sponsorship would also be affected by teams relegated and provinces might be forced, should there be such a split, to pay exorbitant fees to retain such players.

Although the plan to have a single A section of 11 teams is one format the final mix has yet to make itself felt. There is a theory that costal and inland sections might solve one of the problems of playing more first-class matches with a double round and cross-sectional matches as well. It is lowly taking root as one answer to the long-term development programme which has shown remarkable growth in recent years.

Northerns president Richard Harrison has joined John Blair and Imitaz Patel, of the UCB, on a committee to structure the "practical workings of the pool system".

This year's A Section series will at least step into the boots of that used in Australia where a final will be played by the two top sides next March 4 to 8. And, as with the slogs (or the limited-overs thrash), the TV umpire system will be utilised to help in the extension of decisions such as lbw and difficult catches.

Source:: Trevor Chesterfield, Pretoria News