All posts by n8rngtd.top

FICA has said it will deter players from taking part in the 2013 SLPL, unless tournament organisers honour the bank guarantees clause in player contracts

Andrew Fernando06-Sep-2012Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) has said it will deter players from taking part in the 2013 Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) unless tournament organisers honour the bank guarantees clause in player contracts. FICA CEO Tim May said his organisation had made repeated requests for proof of the bank guarantees, but SLC and their promotions partner Somerset Entertainment Ventures (SEV) had failed to provide it.”I can categorically state that if the bank guarantees are not sighted by the relevant date for next year’s tournament, we will be recommending players not to travel to Sri Lanka until the guarantees are sighted by FICA and agreed to be in a form suitable for its purpose,” May said.The contracts stipulate that each SLPL franchise must provide bank guarantees for the total amount of players’ salaries. If the franchise fails to meet the payment schedule, players can then activate the guarantees after a seven-day period in order to receive their pay. Players were due to receive 25% of their salary upon arrival in Sri Lanka, a further 25% on the day of their franchise’s first game, and the remaining 50% on the day of the team’s final SLPL match. “Non-production of these bank guarantees is a major breach of the player contract,” May said. “The bank guarantees were instrumental in obtaining many players’ signatures to participate in this event.”SEV CEO Sandiip Bhammer says franchises were unable to acquire bank guarantees because the process of getting guarantees for each individual franchise would have taken too long and was too complicated. He said tournament organisers had instead asked franchises to acquire a pay order for the total amount of player salaries and they had in turn shown proof of these pay orders to FICA.”I don’t understand what FICA’s problem is,” Bhammer said. “FICA only come in if there is a problem with player payments, but in this case, they have all been paid in full.””A pay order is in fact a stronger guarantee of player payment than a bank guarantee, because it means that a certain amount of money is blocked off and becomes accessible to players if there has been a breach of payment.”May said that the SLPL players had been paid “largely on time” but that several players from one franchise were yet to receive 50% of their pay, though as the local players of that franchise had been paid in full, the money may still be on its way into the foreign players’ accounts. He also said that Uva Next, who had delayed the second installment of payment to players, only paid their dues after being threatened with player withdrawal.Bhammer said he was certain that all players who participated in the SLPL had been paid in full.”When Uva Next were late to pay their players, Tim May insisted that the franchise pay the players 100% of their salary while the tournament was still going, which wasn’t something that was in their contracts. We ensured that the Uva team forked out more money than they were contractually obligated to do, so they actually ended up paying 75% of salaries before the tournament ended.”Bhammer said he was not concerned by FICA’s threat to deter players from travelling to the SLPL in future.”The best adjudicators here are the players themselves. Several of them have come out in the media and said they enjoyed the tournament and would be glad to play in it again. You don’t really need a better endorsement than that.”The SLPL did not use a player auction to determine player salaries, but instead contracted players for a pre-determined sum before players were assigned to a franchise via a draft. The three-week tournament ended on August 31.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has welcomed the ICC’s endorsement for countries to play day-night Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2012James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has welcomed the ICC’s endorsement for countries to play day-night Tests. The change, which depends the development of a suitable ball, came into effect with the new playing regulations from Tuesday.Sutherland indicated that Australia would consider proposals to play day-night Tests at home, to better help fans follow “cricket’s premium format”. The arrangement would require bilateral agreement on playing times and the brand, type and colour of the ball used.This last point could be the most significant obstacle in the immediate future, with tests on a pink ball still being conducted. Cricket South Africa last month expressed doubts about the ball’s viability, while day-night first-class matches have also been trialled in England, the West Indies and, most recently, Bangladesh.”Test cricket is by definition played on at least three week days, times when most people are at work or school, and this limits the ability of fans to attend or watch on TV,” Sutherland said. “We limit ourselves by staging cricket’s premium format at times when fans often cannot watch.””CA has a formal strategic plan that demands Australian cricket puts fans first and we will now add day-night Tests to the agenda when we talk to other Test nations about their future tours Down Under.”Sutherland said that when a Test was played in Perth on Australia’s west coast, which is three hours behind the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the television audience was much higher because fans on the east coast were home from work. However, he conceded that coming up with an alternative to the red ball used in Tests could take time.”Finding a Test ball that is as easily visible in the day as it is at night is still a technical work in progress that the ICC is now leading and it has not yet been possible to predict when such a ball might be available,” he said. “The traditional red ball is not regarded as suitable for night cricket because it is not as visible at night as it is in the day, and the ODI white ball is not suitable for Tests as it is not as durable and does not last as well as a Test ball needs to last.”However, the move to day-night Tests could gain extra momentum with Cricket Australia set to negotiate a new broadcasting deal over the next few months. Channel Nine is keen on the idea of Test cricket being on air later in the day, when more viewers can tune in, and the network’s head of sport, Steve Crawley, said the matter would be discussed when CA and Nine sit down to work on a new deal.”I can’t see a downside to it from an entertainment point of view,” Crawley told the . “We’ll be starting a Test match [against South Africa] Friday week in Brisbane at a time of year when so many people are at work during the day, and night-time cricket would give us a bigger audience.”

NZC moves matches due to logistical complications caused by shift of Friday’s matches from Auckland after the city was put into a lockdown

Andrew McGlashan01-Mar-2021The remainder of the two ongoing series in New Zealand, involving Australia’s men and England’s women, will be played entirely in Wellington after the final T20I double-header on Sunday was shifted from Mount Maunganui.NZC said the change was needed due to “logistical complications” caused by the shift of Friday’s matches from Auckland after the city was put into a week-long Covid-19 lockdown. All the remaining matches will be played behind closed doors.The New Zealand men’s team trained in Wellington on Monday without four Auckland-based players – Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman, Jimmy Neesham and Glenn Phillips – as they awaited results from Covid-19 tests having briefly returned home after the second match in Dunedin. Later in the day, NZC confirmed that all four players were found negative and they would be able to train with the rest of the team from Tuesday.*The squad are expecting to be under tighter restrictions around their movement over the coming week in Wellington”Yesterday we got summoned to go to the hotel and stay in a small bubble together to create that secure environment for ourselves,” Devon Conway said. “Those little late changes do put spanners in the works but it’s a smart move so we are playing our part in being safe. At least it gives us an extended opportunity to play cricket even though there aren’t going to be any crowds.”For Australia, the other major factor is whether the squad will need to quarantine when they return home early next week.New Zealand has had a one-way bubble with some Australian states since late last year which has enabled quarantine-free travel, but since the latest outbreak in Auckland emerged in mid-February, the city has been designated a “red zone”, which means anyone travelling through has to go into two weeks hotel quarantine when arriving in Australia.The team had been due to fly out of Auckland at the end of the series but an alternative departure point may now be used in order to try to avoid quarantine, although that will still depend on whether the New Zealand government adds further cities onto the “red zone” list.The Australia squad had the weekend off in Wellington as the alert level changed but were able to spend time around the city as they plot how to come back from 2-0 down.”We have to just look forward to the games coming up in Wellington, and that’s all we can do at this point in time,” Ashton Agar said of the challenges presented over the last few days.”It’s not the ideal situation doing quarantine, no one really likes the thought of quarantine. “You always have to prepare a little bit, that thought is never easy. There’s a lot of guys who have done up to six weeks of isolation and quarantine, maybe more, and they’ve probably got more coming up.”But we have really good support around us. We have faith in Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket that they have the players’ physical and mental health in their best interest.”The New Zealand and England women’s team arrived in Wellington on Monday with their entire T20I series now taking place in the city.New Zealand have added Brooke Halliday to their squad as a replacement for the injured Lea Tahuhu following her impressive showing in the ODI series, while Gabby Sullivan has been kept on as cover after Hannah Rowe tweaked her quad in the third ODI.* 6.30GMT The story was updated with the Covid-19 test results

Mahela Jayawardene treated England to another gentle batting masterclass with a second successive Test century on the first day of the second Test

The Report by David Hopps03-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Anderson took three early wickets before Sri Lanka fought back, led by a century from Mahela Jayawardene•Getty Images

Mahela Jayawardene, an understated batsman in a world that long ago surrendered to overstatement, treated England to another gentle batting masterclass with a second successive Test century to ensure Sri Lanka maintained a position close to equilibrium at the close of the first day of the second Test.Jayawardene exuded calm, recapturing the mood that brought him 180 in the first Test in Galle, with 105 stealthily assembled in more than five hours before Graeme Swann, straightening one from around the wicket, had him lbw, a decision upheld on review, and the slightest rustle of disbelief arose around the P Sara Oval at a rare misjudgement in an unblemished innings.England dismissed Jayawardene with the second new ball imminent. They took it for the last nine overs and plucked out a sixth wicket when Steven Finn had Mahela’s namesake, Prasanna Jayawardene, caught at the wicket.It was a reward for another disciplined bowling display, in which an increasingly resilient Finn proved he can now share, but the pitch already has a mosaic of cracks and, even allowing for its stultifying lack of pace, there is already ample evidence of uneven bounce and turn for the spinners. That will be enough to keep England’s sense of well-being in check.Four successive Test defeats in Asia have encouraged ever-more defiant noises from England about how they must maintain their energy and trust their attacking instincts. Jayawardene showed them a different route, cajoling the Test gently towards him, displaying the virtues of patience and delicacy as his innings murmured along. He survived a drinks break on 99, removed his helmet to reveal his distinctive black head-covering and then clipped Samit Patel wristily wide of mid-on for his 31st Test century.James Anderson gave England a flying start with three new-ball wickets in his first five overs, dismissing Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara in successive balls, but Jayawardene flicked the hat-trick ball to the fine leg boundary to get off the mark and, as determinedly as England tried to stem the flow of runs off his legs, settled in for the duration.It was a sweltering day in Colombo with not as much relief from the gentle sea breezes that had been apparent in Galle; April, the month before the Yala monsoon finally breaks, when wealthier Colombo families head to the hills in search of relief and when to commit to any physical exertion was once regarded as akin to madness.

Smart stats

• Mahela Jayawardene’s 105 is his 22nd Test century at home. Only Ricky Ponting, with 23, has more home hundreds.

• Thilan Samaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene have become only the third Sri Lankan pair to add more than 3000 partnership runs in Tests. Among the 32 pairs from all teams who’ve achieved this, Jayawardene and Samaraweera have the fifth-best average.

• In 11 home Tests against England, Jayawardene has scored six centuries and averages 90.66. In ten Tests in England, he averages 34.11.

• Jayawardene has now scored eight Test hundreds against England, which equals the record for a Sri Lankan batsman against an opposition – Aravinda de Silva has eight against Pakistan.

• In his last ten away Tests, James Anderson has taken 41 wickets at an average of 24.97. In his previous 19 away Tests, Anderson had taken 52 wickets at 43.84.

• Kumar Sangakkara has failed to score seven times in Tests, but Sri Lanka have won their last four Tests when Sangakkara hasn’t scored. The last time Sangakkara got a duck and Sri Lanka lost the match was against Australia in Darwin in 2004.

There was a time in his career when Anderson would have melted into insignificance in such conditions, cursing a slow pitch and the hot, viscous air, but these days he is a connoisseur of fast bowling and once again he rhythmically dismantled Sri Lanka’s top order. There was enough inconsistent bounce to sustain him and he caressed the new ball with the recognition that once it softened life would become much more onerous.England had taken three Sri Lanka wickets for 15 and fewer in Galle and still lost, a statistic that it has been suggested is unique in Test history. It has been the same all winter for England: skilful, disciplined bowling followed by comedic batting. Anderson took his wickets with the air of a bowler who had come to understand that it guaranteed nothing.Dilshan briefly flared, driving Anderson for successive offside boundaries. But Anderson compensated, yanked his length back a touch, Dilshan dabbled outside off stump and Matt Prior took a neat catch.Sangakkara fell first ball, just as he had in the first innings in Galle, Anderson producing a perfect line and the edge flying to first slip where Strauss fumbled by his midriff but clawed the rebound back with his left hand. Strauss has entered the Test under the most pressure since he was appointed England’s captain three years ago: it was not the day to drop it.Anderson’s third wicket, an ungainly leave-alone from Lahiru Thirimanne, with the decision, this time by the Australian Bruce Oxenford, again upheld on review, fleetingly took his average in his 68th Test below 30 for the first time since his debut summer nine years ago. By the close, it had crept beyond 30 once more, but it was a statistical reminder of his development.Jayawardene peacefully rebuilt the innings, in partnership with Thilan Samaraweera, but England had a lucky mascot to sustain them. Tim Bresnan, playing his first Test of the winter after England omitted Monty Panesar, has been on the winning side in ten previous Tests and he found a hint of reverse swing to have Samaraweera lbw.England made good use of the bouncer against Samaraweera, on a lifeless but uneven pitch. He was struck on the side of the helmet by Finn as he ducked a short ball that failed to get up. He looked briefly disorientated and England might have benefited from one of several ill-judged singles when Finn’s shy from mid-on could have run him out.But tension at the end of an unsuccessful winter had been evident in the response of Andy Flower, England’s team director, when Samaraweera, on 34, survived a DRS appeal for a catch at short leg as a short ball from Steve Finn struck his thigh pad and found its way to Alastair Cook.The not-out decision by umpire Asad Rauf was upheld after a lengthy delay, and innumerable replays, by the third umpire, Rod Tucker. There was no concrete evidence to overrule Rauf’s decision, however much there might have been suspicions of a hint of glove, but that did not stop Flower visiting the TV umpire’s room for an explanation and the cameras caught that, too, with his ill grace apparent.Flower is not averse to a visit to the umpire’s room during play to press his case, although perhaps not as blatantly as his predecessor, Duncan Fletcher, whose psychological gambits can occasionally be of a style that would even make Sir Alex Ferguson take note.

Chennai Super Kings’ coach Stephen Fleming has said that it’s the first time his side has been challenged for form in the last two years

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-2012With defending champions Chennai Super Kings still fourth in the points table after a five-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday, Super Kings’ coach Stephen Fleming has said that it’s the first time his side has been challenged for form in the last two years.Super Kings, who were IPL champions in 2010 and 2011, have lost five out of ten matches this year. “The nature of which we are playing needs to improve and we need to look at the personnel as well as this is the first time we’ve been challenged for form,” Fleming said. “We have been a very consistent side, but now we have to make the right decisions based on what our captain needs.”Super Kings’ batsmen have struggled to find form this year, with their top-scorer Faf du Plessis averaging 37.11 from nine innings. Fleming said that his side must play well as a unit if they want to succeed. “We’re just not getting enough runs and defending well enough,” Fleming said, “He [MS Dhoni, the captain] needs to be supported in the field. We must reassess which bowlers we need and hope our batsmen score more. Things must improve quickly.”On Monday, Knight Riders outperformed Super Kings with bat and ball as they failed to string together substantial partnerships and missed a number of run-out chances. Fleming said that though his batsmen played well, bowling and fielding was a concern.”Today we showed a lot more intent on a tough wicket but when we tried to push ahead or clear the boundary we missed out the 15 to 20 runs that we needed. Knight Riders had one good partnership (between Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis) that took the game out of our reach,” Fleming said.

South Africa celebrated their first win at The Oval in 14 attempts without their captain Graeme Smith

Firdose Moonda at The Oval23-Jul-2012South Africa celebrated their first win at The Oval in 14 attempts without their captain Graeme Smith, who dashed back to South Africa on a 7pm flight from London to be with his wife, Morgan Deane, for the expected birth of the couple’s first child on Wednesday.Smith arrived on the final day of the first Test with his bags already packed and a special shuttle organised to get him to Heathrow. With no knowledge of when the match would end, Smith was due to travel to the airport in a motorcycle sidecar, to weave through the traffic faster. The earlier finish meant he could get there in more regular vehicular fashion, by car. He will spend the first week in South Africa with his newborn, believed to be a girl, before returning to England next Monday to lead the team at Headingley.While Smith has gone home, the rest of the team are thinking of home. Jacques Kallis, in particular, has his mind in Cape Town, where his friend Mark Boucher is recovering from a career-ending eye injury. Kallis dedicated his century on the fourth day to Boucher, with a gesture to his eye.”It’s sad what happened to Mark and it was unfair to have his career end like that,” Kallis said. “He played a big role in this side. In his special way, he is [still] playing a role in this side. The guys feel for him and wish that he was here. He’s still got an impact. It was just my way of letting of him know that he is still very much in our thoughts. It was sad to see a mate go out like that but it was to show we are thinking of him and hope that things go well.”Boucher’s enforced absence handed AB de Villiers the gloves for the first Test, with the specialist, Thami Tsolekile brought to the squad. De Villiers took five catches in the first innings and eight in the match in total but did make some clear errors. He dropped Ian Bell on 20, off Imran Tahir’s bowling, missed a run-out chance against Bell later on in the day and let through 11 byes in the second innings.Despite that, South Africa coach Gary Kirsten said de Villiers is likely to hold on to his position for the next match, with Tsolekile set to carry drinks again. “AB was the reserve keeper for this tour, so there would be no reason to suggest why he wouldn’t keep in the next one,” he said. “I thought he kept really well. It was not easy out there, especially with the spinner. He hasn’t had a lot of Test match keeping so for a first outing in Test match cricket for a long time, I thought he did exceptionally well.”De Villiers was not required to bat, so his back, which is prone to spasms, was not tested in this match – but he cannot expect the same to happen in the second Test. Kirsten said South Africa considered it “very special” to have won the match having only lost two wickets but saw it as an illustration of their batting stamina.”We’ve got some real class in out batting line up,” he said. “We’ve got guys with a lot experience and guys who enjoy batting a lot. They don’t give their wickets away; they take pride in spending a lot of time at the crease. It was particularly satisfying as a coach to see that.”More pleasing, perhaps, because the build-up to the series was dominated by talk of South Africa being underprepared, having last played Test cricket in March. Instead of getting in more net practice, Kirsten took his team to Switzerland for a bonding camp that was joked about in certain circles. Kirsten, said he fully expected his unorthodox methods to work, however. “The only way you can really effectively prepare for Test match cricket is by playing Test match cricket,” he said. “It’s very tough to get yourself into a Test match intensity mode playing first-class cricket. We tried a few different things. The guys came into this Test match mentally fresh.”Those clear heads came together to take the lead in a three-match series, which both captains said could prove decisive. Kirsten was cautious not to say the same and regarded this win as just another rung on the long ladder he wants to climb with South Africa. “We know we want to become the best cricket team in the world and we know what we need to do to achieve that,” he said. “This is the next hurdle. There’s a lot of work to be done and there’s a lot of focus needed. We are focusing everything on preparation at the moment.”

Quetta wicketkeeper Bismillah Khan has had his appeal against a one-year disciplinary ban turned down by a PCB judicial commissioner, meaning he will not receive a central contract for 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jun-2012Quetta wicketkeeper Bismillah Khan has had his appeal against a one-year disciplinary ban turned down by a PCB judicial commissioner, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, in Lahore. This means Bismillah will not receive a central contract from the Pakistan board.Bismillah, who was handed a 12-month ban for fighting in a grade-two match at Jinnah Stadium in Gujranwala on April 21, had been named in the stipend category of the PCB’s 2012 contracts.Following the contracts announcement, Intikhab Alam, the PCB’s director of international cricket operations, said that Bismillah would not be excluded from the list unless the commissioner ruled against him. “His contact currently is on hold, we will wait for the outcome of his appeal,” Alam had said. “The contract will be withdrawn if the commissioner upholds his ban.”In all, 21 Pakistan players had been given full-fledged contracts in May, while 21 players have been placed in the stipend category. Players in the stipend category will receive a retainer of 62,500 Pakistan rupees (US$660 approx) for the calendar year 2012 from the PCB.

Window for negotiation opened ahead of mini-draft ahead of postponed maiden season

Matt Roller24-Sep-2020Teams in the Hundred will be able to retain as many men’s players as they wish for the 2021 competition, as details for next season’s draft were revealed on Thursday.The Hundred, the ECB’s new flagship 100-ball competition, was due to be staged for the first time this summer before the Covid-19 pandemic caused its postponement to 2021. The competition’s regulations had initially allowed teams to retain up to 10 players at a mutually agreed salary band for the second season, but that has been extended to the full squad on account of the delay.In practice, teams are unlikely to retain their entire squads due to a number of factors, including the end of Kolpak status, a lack of clarity over the international calendar, and form over the last 12 months.ALSO READ: Women’s Hundred players given option for contract roll-overThe ECB is due to release a list of centrally-contracted players for 2020-21 – likely to be within the next two weeks – at which point teams will be able to negotiate to retain a player at a mutually-agreed salary. That could be higher or lower than their salary last year, meaning that Dawid Malan (a £40,000 pick by Trent Rockets) could negotiate up after an impressive 12 months, while a player who had struggled for form could agree a deal worth less. As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, all salary bands have been cut by 20% from last year.Teams will have from October through to January in which to negotiate with players and agents, with a mini-draft to follow at some point in early 2021. In that draft, each team will then have a ‘right to match’ option, allowing them to retain players with whom they failed to negotiate a deal, if they have a spot remaining in the draft at the salary band at which another team picks him.Each team will still be able to pick one ‘wildcard’ player, who will be chosen after the T20 Blast season in 2021 and will sign a £24,000 contract for the competition.The early stages of retention will depend on England’s red-ball central contract list, with the competition again set to overlap with a Test series, this time against India, and their Hundred deals falling outside of the main draft system. It is unlikely that many of the 10 players currently with deals will fall off the list, with Jonny Bairstow the main exception, but a handful of players – Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dom Bess – will come under consideration for red-ball contracts.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Players with red-ball central contracts both years will be able to be retained. Ultimately, each team will have at least one, and at most two players with a red-ball central contract, which will be confirmed in October.A spokesman for the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) said: “The PCA was supportive of the process in confirming the retention details for the 2021 Men’s Hundred.”The players were consulted through PCA representatives, including those who were not originally contracted for the 2020 Hundred. The PCA Players’ Committee fed back their approval of the process to the ECB which allows players an element of control and freedom to negotiate for 2021 while offering opportunities for those who impressed during the 2020 Vitality Blast.”There will be several sub-plots regarding retentions, not least questions over the availability of certain players on Kolpak deals. Dane Vilas, for example, was signed by Manchester Originals as a top-price pick in last year’s draft. He hopes to continue playing as a local via a UK ancestral visa next year, but would be less likely to command a top salary if competing for one of three overseas spots. Cameron Delport, signed by Birmingham Phoenix, is in the same position.The process for women’s retentions has already been confirmed, with players given more control in that they are able to choose to roll their contracts over at the same salary if they choose to do so.

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced an overhaul of domestic cricket, which features three city-based tournaments that will be launched in the upcoming season

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-Nov-2015Sri Lanka Cricket has announced an overhaul of domestic cricket, which features three city-based tournaments that will be launched in the upcoming season.

Elite Championship teams

Colombo
Base: Khettarama
Catchment area: Western province
Major affiliated clubs: SSC, Ragama CC, Badureliya CC
Kandy
Base: Pallekele Stadium
Catchment area: Central Province & Sabaragamuwa
Major affiliated clubs: Colts Cricket Club, Moors Sports Club, Saracens Sports Club
Hambantota
Base: Hambantota Stadium
Catchment area: Uva Province and parts of Southern Province and Eastern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Burgher Recreation Club, Army Sports Club
Galle
Base: Galle Stadium
Catchment area: Part of Southern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Galle CC, Nondescripts CC, Lankan CC
Kurunegala
Base: Dambulla Stadium
Catchment area: Northwestern Province, North-Central Province, Northern Province, and part of Eastern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Tamil Union, Chilaw Marians, Navy Sports Club

The 2015-16 season will also feature a four-day, 50-over and Twenty20 tournament based out of five regional hubs, in addition to the club-based premier tournaments which will continue as usual. The new city-based structure, titled the ‘Elite Championship’ aims to decentralise Sri Lanka’s cricket from Colombo, and distill talent to ensure a sterner level of domestic competition.According to SLC officials, the plan for the Elite Championship was “spearheaded” by Mahela Jayawardene. The interim committee, which took over in early April, has made the overhaul of the domestic system a priority of their administration, which is set to end in January – before any of the new tournaments are played. It is hoped the new structure will help better identify and foster provincial talent.”Today, the bulk of our cricketers are coming from the outstations,” SLC chairman Sidath Wettimuny said. “We’ve got to encourage these cricketers to remain in their home territory and play. Everybody doesn’t need to come to Colombo. We’re taking cricket out to them and providing them with what they need.”The five Elite Championship teams will be based out of stadiums in Pallekele, Dambulla, Hambantota, Galle and Khettarama, and will take the names of the nearest major urban centre (Kandy, Kurunegala, Hambantota, Galle and Colombo respectively).”Historically and geographically, these are the cities that have brought cricket to the level it is now,” SLC cricket operations manager Carlton Bernardus said. “The advantage also is that the facilities in these regions cater to the game.”By fielding only five teams, SLC aims to concentrate the talent in its domestic pool, in order to better prepare domestic cricketers for the international level. The Premier League first-class tournament, which features 14 club sides, has been criticised by players and administrators for being bloated, and as such, producing relatively-low quality cricket.Each Elite Championship team will be assigned SLC coaches and support staff. Romesh Kaluwitharana, Nuwan Zoysa, Piyal Wijetunge, Roy Dias and Avishka Gunawardene have been identified as head coaches for the five teams. SLC said it was also in the process of advertising for managers, and assigning trainers and physios for each side. The Elite Championship support staff will be advised and overseen by the national coaches in Colombo.Existing clubs have also been given an administrative role to play in the Elite Championship. The top clubs have been split into five clusters, each of which has then been assigned an Elite Championship side. For example, Sinhalese Sports Club, Badureliya Cricket Club, Ragama Cricket Club along with several other clubs have been clustered with the Colombo team.”We will get the support of the clubs and the district associations to run the tournament,” Bernardus said. “The tournament will tap into the facilities and infrastructure which the clubs have.”A new player-payments structure has also been announced for the Elite Championship tournaments. Seventy-five players (15 per team) will be signed up for these tournaments, and those who play will receive 20,000 rupees per day for the Elite Championship four-day tournament, 25,000 rupees per 50-over match, and 15,000 rupees per T20 game.The Elite Championship T20 tournament is set to be the first of the city-based tournaments to be played: it is scheduled from January 26 to February 5 – ahead of the World T20. The Elite Championship four-day tournament is scheduled for March and April 2016. The teams are scheduled to play a round-robin, before two sides progress to the final.The club-based Premier League Tournament is still set to take the largest part of the domestic calendar. That tournament features seven three-day group fixtures for each of the 14 sides, before the top eight teams split off to play four rounds of four-day cricket, known as the Super Eights phase. Club-based 50-over and T20 tournaments are also scheduled.SLC has sought to persist with the club structure instead of doing away with it in favour of the new tournaments for two major reasons. First, the clubs control much of the existing domestic infrastructure and facilities, including coaches, equipment and grounds. Secondly, the clubs also wield substantial constitutional power, via SLC votes.Any moves to marginalise the clubs would have effectively killed the city-based tournament at its inception. At any rate, with SLC elections scheduled for January, the clubs would likely have elected candidates promising to return the club tournaments to their historical place – as the centrepiece of Sri Lanka’s domestic season. Playing the Elite Championship after the Premier League tournament is seen as a sort of compromise.SLC has previously held provincial tournaments that sought to concentrate domestic talent. However, those tournaments had been administered directly by SLC, from Colombo. The Elite Championship aims to herald a greater devolution of power. It is hoped that district associations and the club clusters will administer the week-to-week affairs of each team, and that these teams will only be broadly overseen by SLC. It is also hoped that this devolution of powers brings with it grassroots support from fans in the various cities, as well as organic development of cricketers at each hub.

“I don’t think we can afford to get too attached to anything when it comes to Twenty20 cricket”

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-20200:57

Will see people batting differently with news rules – Stoinis

Opinion has been sharply divided since the Big Bash League announced its new innovations: Power Surge, X-Factor and Bash Boost. Some have called them just gimmicks, others genuinely good ideas. Marcus Stoinis thinks they are “exciting” and will make captains and coaches busier than before, simply because “there’s going to be a lot more tactics” involved in each game.”I think it’s exciting, I think it will be good for the competition,” Stoinis, the Melbourne Stars allrounder, said at a media interaction on Saturday. “Like everything new, they are bound to be some teething problems or some people who don’t like it. But, look, that’s part of the way we are going; we’ve got to adapt, we’ve got to look to create a better game, or a more exciting game, for viewers at some stage as well. The Big Bash is such a great competition and this could add to it.”Adaptability will be the key, but it might require quite an overhaul in terms of team strategies and match planning.”I’m going to have to figure out how to try and be there for that second powerplay,” Stoinis said with a laugh. “But that’s the interesting part – there’s going to be a lot more tactics, the captains are going to be busy, the coaches are going to be a bit busier; we’ll give them a bit of c**p about it, saying once the game starts they just sit there around the boundary and don’t do so much. So we’ll get them involved.”You will see people batting a little bit differently. And then they have got the point that’s available after the first ten overs as well. So you can’t cruise from that four-to-ten-over mark waiting for the powerplay. There’s definitely going to have to be a bit more communication going back and forth. There will probably be a few floaters in the batting order, people specifically going out there for those sorts of things.”The new rules, which are only applicable to the Big Bash League, will definitely make the viewing experience different than the older version, but Stoinis said he was happy to “go with the flow”.”I hope the rule changes work well for the game and excite the fans. I understand the purpose of them, I don’t think we can afford to get too attached to anything when it comes to Twenty20 cricket and the progression of our sport,” he said. “So I am all for it. I am just going with the flow and I am excited about the competition.”Yes, it is quite different. I can see also that it is going to overlap into one-day cricket a lot more. I mean, just now in the IPL, like how many scores there were over 200 in 20 overs – it’s actually unbelievable cricket being played at the moment. So we raise the bar, lift the ceiling of what’s possible in one-day cricket. I think it’s going to be continually harder and harder to probably play all three formats. Just because, probably, the aggression you need, or the different types of deliveries you’re going to be bowling in white-ball cricket or Twenty20 cricket, so it’s going to be a challenge.”