South African cricket

[Russian]

South Africa complete domestic restructuring

Wisden Cricinfo staff

February 1, 2004


South Africa has completed the restructuring of its domestic cricket, with the 11 provincial first-class sides merging into six regional ones. The move was taken by the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) to ensure the long-term financial viability of the game.


Ray Mali, the president of the UCB, was satisfied with the partnerships had been forged to form the new sides, although Free State and Griqualand West were unable to come to an agreement. The UCB stepped in, and gave a 55% "shareholding" to Free State with the remainder going to Griqualand.

The result, according to the UCB, will be improved overall quality and a commitment to lift amateur cricket at all levels. Sixteen teams, made up of the current 11 provinces and five new sides, will play a secondary, amateur competition and act as feeder teams.

The new competition mirrors the success of rugby's Super 12 competition, and means that South Africa now have the same number of first-class teams as Australia. Similar suggestions for regional cricket in England have encountered stiff opposition from the 18 counties.

© Wisden Cricinfo Ltd

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Looks like another step towards a Super League to me, which is more of a chance if they can play in places like Darwin and Cairns in August-October

[Black Thunder]

Well done to South African cricket.

a step in the right direction.

full proffesionall cricket needs to be for the very elite, and must be a hard task to break into if the standard of cricket in the country is going to improve.

If a country has to many proffesional cricket, the standard of the FC competition, and in turn the national team, is going to drop. Just look at England.

[Black Thunder]

Originally posted by Black Thunder
Just look at England.

and before people start quoting this and asking why they could do so well back in the day, the asnwer is obvious - cricket wasn't a proffesional sport back than.

they worked on the right principle for that day - the more teams, the more players, the more talent, and the more to choose from.

That is the principle that amatuer sport works on, and its how the Grade cricket system in Australia works - there are 20 clubs with 5 grades each (100 teams) in Sydney each weekend. Not all states have that many, but most have at least 50 different grade teams.

But the game has become proffesional and England have failed to accomodate for that. There are too many FC players, who are not up to teh standard, playing in to many state level matches at an intensity which is just not high enough.

[DaveW]

Originally posted by Russian
means that South Africa now have the same number of first-class teams as Australia. Six is also the magic number in New Zealand and the West Indies.

[Cooldude]

Originally posted by DaveW
Six is also the magic number in New Zealand and the West Indies.

Yeah, well the pitches they prepare in NZ are atrocious to say the least, and anyone who can play sport in NZ would take up union anytime over cricket, and West Indies cricket ain't even professional, they're paid zip, and with all those islands crap too.

[grayza]

Originally posted by Cooldude
Yeah, well the pitches they prepare in NZ are atrocious to say the least, and anyone who can play sport in NZ would take up union anytime over cricket, and West Indies cricket ain't even professional, they're paid zip, and with all those islands crap too.

interesting comments.......rammies taking union over cricket is a little strange, i doubt that view considering new zealand have an at least decent team in both forms of the game, there is incentive to push into that sport and they have a solid first class structure
the pitches prepared for the recent series against pakistan were ok, but the ones last summer for nz vs india were atrocious
i dont kno enough of the west indies structure to comment on that, but they to are rebuilding and trying to get it right
more efforts like the one last night against the cricket box will really promote the game there

[dan warna]

long may the lame english system last

breeding mediocrity from a mediocre people

i say more mercenaries, brings cash home for aussies.

also I would be for BANNING o/s players playing in Aus because we want the best, and frankly there is NOTHING we can learn from O/s at the moment.

[Rob]

Originally posted by dan warna
long may the lame english system last

breeding mediocrity from a mediocre people


Give them credit, they did halve the number of top flight teams, even if they structured the system so poorly that a lot of the top players play in the 2nd tier.


i say more mercenaries, brings cash home for aussies.

also I would be for BANNING o/s players playing in Aus because we want the best, and frankly there is NOTHING we can learn from O/s at the moment.

Yeah, Andy Flower and Murray Goodwin are hacks. :rolleyes: