The Captains and Coaches Conclave 2004, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Mumbai on Friday threw up some innovative and exciting suggestions towards improving the domestic cricket scenario in the country.

The suggestions ranged from doing away with the toss in Ranji Trophy matches and no scheduling of first class games in the North Zone during December/January due to foggy conditions prevalent there.

The meeting, which Technical Committee chairman Sunil Gavaskar later described as a "terrific interactive session", lasted three hours, after which Board of Control of Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya announced the recommendations.

"The session was very interactive. We had requested the captains and coaches to be frank and give their observations to help improve the standard of cricket in India. The main aim of this conclave, which is in its second year, is simply to educate us about the difficulties faced by the players," said Dalmiya..

Captains and coaches from 25 states attended the meeting. There was no representation from Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka, Sikkim and Maharashtra.

Among the issues discussed were:

Five-day league game for the Ranji Trophy: It was suggested that the original five-day be format be restored from the present four days.

Promotion and Relegation: Four teams instead of two.

Third position in the One-day tournament: Having a losing semi-finalists' match to decide the third position.

Two-tier system for Under-19 tournament: To extend the two-tier Ranji Trophy format of the Elite and Plate groups, which has proved successful, to the Under- 19 tournament as well.

Duleep Trophy:  To continue inviting a foreign team for the tournament, even though some former players are against the idea.

No first class games in December and January in North Zone: While scheduling matches the climatic conditions should be kept in mind. During December and January, the conditions are foggy, which interrupts the matches and also affects the points of teams.

Quality of the cricket balls: Lot of complaints have been received regarding the quality of cricket balls.

"Their quality has been deteriorating. There is no adequate supply of balls. All Indian makes have been tried out but none are satisfactory. Few brands like Kookaburra, Stanford and Marlboro have been selected and these will be tried in the Junior tournament and National Cricket Academy. The BCCI may also look for collaboration for manufacturing balls if the balls do not meet the expectations," said Dalmiya.

Quality of umpiring: Few selected umpires to have discussion with the (BCCI) president tomorrow (Saturday) and sort out ways of improving the standard of umpiring in India.

"One of the options is to have an Umpires' Academy," said Dalmiya.

Gavaskar, briefing the press later, said: 'We are aiming that the game is played in the fairest way possible."

He said the captains and coaches have been told to discuss the recommendations with their team members and associations and get back to the Board within a fortnight.

He added that all the technical recommendations would be discussed by the committee and put forward to the BCCI working committee, which will then finalize on them.

Gavaskar read out the recommendations and commented upon them.

No Toss in first class games: "Captains have complained about the home team having an advantage with the pitch prepared to suit the strength of the home team. They suggested that there should be no toss and the visiting team should make a call to bat or bowl first, which will in a way cut down on the home advantage and offer a fair game," Gavaskar said.

Penalty for slow over rates:  "It is usual with teams slowing down the over rates in games, but something really serious needs to be done to curb this practise. In early days, financial penalties did not make much sense, as there was no money at that time in cricket. Today, there should be high financial fine for the teams indulging in slow over rate and also may be cut down on runs."

Standardization of Equipments: "Participating teams should have same equipments to emphasis on fairness. Initially, we are focusing on rollers. All the captains and coaches are asked to inform about the kind of rollers used by the association. The committee will then define what is a heavy roller and light roller."

With the heartening response the conclave received, it now remains to be seen whether and when the Board will implement the recommendations.