CRICKET - Competition rejig brings more variety

Northland Cricket are turning back the clock, with a president's grade cricket competition to be introduced among a number of planned changes for the 2008-9 club season.
A working party made up of members of all the Northland clubs has been working on a competition revamp, with the clubs expected to ratify the new structure in coming weeks.
The president's grade, probably using a Twenty20 format, is aimed at social cricketers whowant to play competitive cricket but have less time available.
Another feature of the proposed structure will be a trophy for an overall Northland club champion, awarded to the premier grade team that has achieved the most in their four different competitions over the season.
"Each separate competition will be weighted over all of the four competitions so, if a team doesn't do well in one competition, then they've still got the chance to win another three and, even if they win nothing, they're still in with a chance to be the top club overall," Northland Cricket CEO, Gary Bell, said.
Another change is the addition of a new 55-over competition to complement the 50-over competition. The 55-over game will be without restrictions, a point of difference from previous seasons.
"It will allow for players to build longer innings and bowlers to bowl extended spells, and the competition will finish on December 20, making it three competitions completed by Christmas," Bell said.
The broad ideas behind the proposals for the 2008-9 season have already been presented to the clubs and the final competition structures are expected to be ratified next month.
The season will start with a Twenty20 competition on October 4, with the final weekend of the competition held over two days the following weekend, at Kaipara Flats.
"Each team will play two games on the Saturday and then another game on Sunday before the finals in the afternoon ... the idea is to bring all the teams together at the beginning of the season," Bell said.