Domestic cricket overhauled

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka Cricket on Saturday conducted an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and the stakeholders of the game unanimously ratified a new domestic tournament structure.

The new competition that has been drafted with the blessings of Cricket Advisory Committee is expected to remain in the system for ten years but there are fears of interference when relegation is around the corner.

At present, we have 24 teams playing First Class cricket and many former greats had raised their concerns for having too many teams playing at the highest level resulting in the competition being diluted and the gap between Test cricket and First Class cricket widening.

What we have right now is instead of teams being stripped of First Class status, two more teams being added to the system with 26 teams enjoying First Class cricket. What that means is that the country will have more than 300 players engaging in First Class cricket which is way too much.

With a relegation system, the authorities expect to cut down two teams by next season and eventually will be left with a system where only 15 teams play First Class cricket. But there lies the problem. Over the last few years, we have seen that clubs not playing by the rule book and once they are relegated underarm tactics being used to remain in the elite league.

Smaller clubs like Baduraliya for example points out it’s unfair on them as they play with limited resources while bigger clubs like NCC have a prestige problem. These are just two teams who have made behind the scene moves to remain in the top league. It has happened once and you can be assured that it will happen again and there are enough politicians in our part of the world to promote these causes.

When NCC was facing relegation, the team’s iconic player Kumar Sangakkara was Sri Lanka’s Test captain. He was also world’s number one ranked batsman at that point. It would have been embarrassing for Sangakkara not to be representing a team that plays First Class cricket but the great man he is, Sanga vowed to remain at Maitland Place. “NCC was my first club and NCC will be my last club,” he said.

According to the new system, the 26 teams will be divided into two groups and each team will play 12 games in a season. The top two teams will play the final while the bottom two side will be relegated.

The inter-club tournament is expected to be completed by January next year with SLC hoping to get Ministry of Health permission to continue with the season.

This will be followed by the much looked forward to Inter-Provincial tournament. That will be the highest standard of domestic cricket. The yardstick for selection for Provincial teams will be the performances of the club tournament while Sri Lanka selections are expected to be made on the performances of the Provincial tournament.

The restructuring of the domestic tournament was one of the urgent needs in putting the sport back on track and it is hoped that this structure addresses many troubles facing our cricket.