Club-based zonal system to replace provincial tournament
Club-based Zonal cricket tournaments will replace the failed provincial cricket system from the next season. These tournaments will follow the Premier League Club Cricket tournaments which will be played in November and December. The SLC’s Head of Cricket Operations, Carlton Bernadus, explaining the new format, told the Sunday Times: “Unlike the provincial tournament where the players were drafted into the four teams, this will be a club-based tournament.
The new tournament will be played in all three formats from January next year
“At the end of the Premier League Club tournament, SLC’s Tournament Committee would cluster the Premier League teams into five groups on performance so there would be uniformity in strength among the competitors. There are fourteen Premier League Clubs. So to make it fifteen teams in the tournament in all probabilities the winners of the emerging tournament would also be a part of one of the Zones. This means there would be three teams pitted into each Zone giving each zone a choice of 60 players (20 from each club) which would give each zone ample choice to select its squad with good bench strength.”
However, the SLC’s HCO said that as the tournament would comprise all three formats of the game – beginning with the T-20 tournament, followed by the 4-day and the Limited Over versions (50 over), the grouping on strength may become a tough job. He pointed out that in the last season, Sri Lanka Ports Authority won the 3-day tournament; SSC won the limited overs version while the T-20 tournament was won by Badureliya. Therefore, he said, it would be the chore of SLC’s Tournament Committee to see the task is accomplished justly.
He explained: “As soon as the Premier Club Tournament is over, the Zonal T-20s will begin. This year this tournament would be utilised for selecting the squad for the T-20 World Championships. The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 will be the sixth ICC World Twenty20 tournament and is scheduled to be held in India from March 11 to April 3. The International Cricket Council Board, after its first meeting in Dubai on Jan 28 this year chose India to be host of the 2016 World Twenty20 championship. Sri Lanka are the defending champions. So it’s good platform to launch a Zonal tournament”.
The Zonal T-20 tournament will be followed by the four-day tournament and the limited over tournament. The two tournaments are pitted to be played concurrently. Once two Zones play their four day tournament the limited overs tournament between the two Zones would be played at the same venue on the third day and two days later the Zones would being their next game at another venue against another Zone.
Club insiders are of the opinion that the new system has more direction than the aborted provincial system where the players were just drafted in an ad hoc manner without any basis. One of the insiders said: “In the new system, there is some sense. We know it is a club-based tournament and there would be a sense of belonging. But, the system should have some continuity so that the clubs and its players could gel into one unit and build up a common goal.”