da dobrowin： The annual Division 1 cricket championship, which usually starts inMay, will begin in August this year
Haydn Gill26-Apr-2001The annual Division 1 cricket championship, which usually starts inMay, will begin in August this year.For the first time in recent history, the season will begin with theBarbados Fire & Commercial Cup Limited-overs Competition on May 19.As a result, the new-look Division 1 competition, which features theintroduction of covers and a morning start for two-day matches, willbe delayed until August 11.Play will now start at 11 a.m. daily in the Division 1 competition, anhour later than was originally planned.Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) business manager Rollins Howardsaid the decision to start the season with the Cup competition wasmade primarily to accommodate schoolboys who have examinations in themonths of May and June.”We don’t usually play on Saturday and Sunday at the start of theseason,” Howard told NATIONSPORT.”If we start with the Cup, we will still play cricket every Saturday.The schools will be playing in the knockout competition and it wouldnot impact on Sunday cricket with them.”The Cup competition will run for nine successive Saturdays,culminating with the final on Sunday July 22.Once the Division 1 competition starts on August 11, it will run for13 successive weekends, ending in the first weekend of November.For the first time ever, there will be Reserve League for teamsparticipating in Division 1, registration of clubs and players andmatch referees in Division 1.”There are other changes but the above are those which will have animmediate and the greatest impact on clubs participating in theDivision 1 competition,” Howard said in a memo to clubs and schools.”We appreciate that many changes are being implemented for the newseason and expect that several challenges will present themselves.However, it will be a learning experience for all of us.”Covers, which are to be used in Division 1 and the entire Cupcompetition for the first time, have been ordered for each club andshould soon arrive in the island.In an effort to familiarise the groundstaff with the requirements forpreparation of two-day pitches as well as with the elements involvedin covering pitches, a seminar for groundsmen, sponsored by the BCAand the National Sports Council, was held recently at Queen’s Park.Each Division 1 club will be represented in the Reserve League, whichwill be played on two consecutive Saturdays initially.”This concession is made to allow current clubs time to recruitplayers who will be able to compete in the Reserve League under thesame conditions as the First Division and will not exceed two years,”Howard said.”Clubs are therefore urged to embark on programmes to attract youngplayers.”In these two years, the Reserve League will begin at 12:30 p.m. dailyand will be played on the basis of 35-overs-per-side in the firstinnings with many of the requirements of a regular limited-overs matchin place.The second innings will be played to a normal conclusion. There will,however, be a minimum of 75 overs in the day’s play.Match referees, who have become a regular part of the Fire Cupcompetition in recent years, are expected to be in place for Division1 matches.”There is a need for more match referees and efforts are under way torecruit suitable persons so that all of the competitions can be wellserved,” Howard said.Other changes include the promotion of teams from Intermediate andSecond Division and the introduction of new clubs to the SecondDivision.Barbados Defence Force Youth Programme, champions in the IntermediatePremier League in 1999 and 2000, have been promoted to Division 1 totake the place of one of the Combined Schools teams.Additionally, Conrad Hunte Sports Club, Dover, Wotton and Fustic havebeen promoted to the Premier League; Lords, Parish Land and theBarbados Fire Service have moved up to Intermediate from SecondDivision; and Isolation Cavaliers, Melrose and Brereton are the newcomers to the Second Division competition.There will only be minor changes to the conditions of play in thePremier, Intermediate, Second and Schools divisions.Playing times and general conditions will be the same as in previousyears, with play starting at either 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.The Second Division, however, will play under conditions similar tothe Reserve League.The Fire Shield, which starts on June 10, will be played almostsimultaneously with the Cup and ends with the final on July 15.In another new feature, all clubs will have to register their players.Registration fee per club is $100 and per player $10.Registration for schools is $50, but there is no registration fee forindividual schoolboys.