Cricket: South gets the A teams

A New Zealand A team is to play Sri Lanka A in March and April.

The series will be played in the South Island and will have three five-day games, followed by a three-match one-day series.

New Zealand Cricket also yesterday gave its itineraries for this season's State Championship and the State Shield domestic competitions, the schedule for this summer's tours by Pakistan and South Africa, and the playing programme for the NZC Academy.

NZC chief executive, Martin Snedden said an international A programme helped players to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket.

"It will give domestic cricketers a greater incentive to perform at domestic level and should result in a wider base of quality players from which the Black Caps can be chosen," he said.

NZC is negotiating with other cricketing countries to establish an annual A team playing programme.

To accommodate the A team programme, the State Championship four-day format is being altered from 10 rounds to eight, with the addition of a final for the two top qualifiers.

Snedden said players had supported the change.

The Pakistan tour will open with three-day matches against Canterbury and Auckland starting on December 8 and 13 respectively.

After two tests, the tourists will play a one-day match against Wellington on January 1 before the five-match one-day series.

South Africa begin with a one-day match against Northern Districts on February 12, then a six-match one-day series against the Black Caps.

They will play a yet-to-be-confirmed major association team in a three-day match on March 5 to prepare them for the three-match test series.

The NZC Academy team will play Canterbury, Auckland, Central Districts, Otago and Wellington in a series of one and two-day games in November.

The team will have academy players and emerging players, as well as guest appearances by Black Caps Shane Bond and Mark Richardson.

The State Championship will run from December 1 to March 7, and the State Shield one-day competition from January 8 to February 7.

* NZC will crack down on any player questioning an umpire's decision this season.

Any questioning of an umpire's decision by a captain, player, coach or administrator will now be in breach of the code of conduct.

Snedden said the change to the code was necessary because the questioning of umpires' decisions had become standard practice in recent seasons and was having a negative effect on the game.

The new law would apply at all levels, particularly club cricket.

"We are aware that poor on-field treatment and player abuse leads directly to a number of umpires being lost to the game every year," Snedden said.

"We are determined that this trend will not continue at any level of the game and we will be working with our major associations to ensure that the new expectations of on-field behaviour will be upheld at all levels."

- NZPA