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SA to revamp domestic cricket

With Dr Ali Bacher in charge, dynamism seems to be the name of the game as far as South Africa's cricket board is concerned.

On the anvil, now, is a plan to revamp the domestic league -- the SuperSport Series -- in an attempt to make cricket more competitive, and completely multiracial.

"Our intention is to have our provincial teams become teams of colour," says Bacher, chief executive of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA).

Bacher explains that the revamp will be aimed at ensuring that while aiding the advancement of black players, the playing standards on the dmoestic circuit does not drop. And this, he believes, can be achieved by patterning the SuperSport series on the lines of Major League Soccer in the US of A.

"The league, not the clubs, contracts players and decides where they are placed," Bacher points out. "This in turn makes all the clubs of fairly equal strength, and therefore ensures a more competitive league. We want to do something similar in South Africa, with the UCBSA contracting a pool of players. The playing strengths and weaknesses of the various provinces will then be examined and players will be sent there to top them up if necessary."

Obviously, with talent evenly distributed around the country, the competitive edge will be heightened, and will bring with it a corresponding improvement in the quality of play. "We'll also ensure that the gap between domestic and test level is not as big as it is now and our players will be more prepared for test cricket," Bacher said, while not ruling out the possibility of overseas players being contracted.

"Overseas players are an option to prop up the league and assist us in the interim phases. I don't think it will be too expensive, our goal is to put in place a format that will last for the next five years, and upon which everyone agrees," the UCBSA chief said.

Agencies