Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE REGIONAL one-day limited-overs cricket tournament is set to get under way on Saturday in Guyana and although there has been a change in the format, the fans are looking forward to some exciting play and a thrilling contest particularly after the West Indies triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy.
In a bid to lift the standard of the region's cricket, the board looked at the tournament and made two changes.
According to the board, the region needs a strong tournament, a tournament means strong teams, and change number one, a good one indeed, was the decision to limit the tournament to its six affiliates Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.
According to the board, there is also a need to play more cricket, and change number two, also a good one, was the decision to have a longer tournament.
Unlike previous years when the teams were divided into two groups with the top two from each group moving into the semi-finals and the two winners contesting the final, the plan called for two rounds, one in Guyana and one in Grenada, and for the teams to play each other in both rounds with the top four moving into the semi-finals scheduled for Barbados.
GRENADA DEVASTATED
Unfortunately, however, Grenada was devastated by Hurricane Ivan, the board failed to find a sponsor, and that will not be case at least not this year. It will be one round before the semi-finals and the final.
That, however, is still an improvement on what it was before, up to now the only stars who will be absent are Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan, and with all six teams expected to be at full strength, or with the exception of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, at almost full strength, with the West Indies visiting Australia in January for a triangular one-day series, it should be exciting as the teams hunt the title and the players, including those like batsmen Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith, jostle for a place on the West Indies team.
Another change, however, involves the points system - a bonus points system that the board has said will "maintain a high level of interest to the end of a match for the spectators as well as to give the players an added incentive to strive for excellence".
SOURCE OF CONFUSION
On the contrary, however, it could be a source of confusion.
Apart from four points for a win, two for a tie and one for a no result, the board, in its wisdom, has decided to award one point for the winning team recording a run rate at least 1.25 times that of the opposition; one point for the bowling team, which dismisses the opposition, batting second, within four/fifths of the target; a further point for the winning team scoring at least twice the rate of the opposition; one point for the winning team bowling second dismissing the opposition for less than half of the target; and although it is better than the previous system in which a team was awarded one point for losing a match, apart from the fact that it can lead to mistakes and controversies, it is difficult to see how it can make a game, a limited-overs game, more exciting.
The only thing it can do is make a mockery of the game.
Cricket is a game between batsmen and bowlers supported by fielders, it is a game of runs and wickets, in a limited-over contest, a game is won, tied or abandoned, and unless one wants to see a team moving ahead of another without winning more games, points should be awarded on that basis.
For those who do not remember, some years ago in the local Senior Cup competition, Melbourne defeated Boys' Town by an innings shortly before tea on the second day and yet won less points than Kingston who had to fight to the end to defeat the Jamaica Defence Force on the same day. In other words, although it won easily and quickly, a team got fewer points than one that managed to win a close contest and all because of a bonus points system that, fortunately for cricket in Jamaica, was abandoned at the end of the season.
WELL-MATCHED TEAMS
Bonus points do not make a match interesting or exciting. What make a match interesting or exciting are two well-matched teams boasting exciting players.
Bonus points also are not incentives in the pursuit of excellence. What keeps a cricketer striving for excellence is what is awaiting him a West Indies cap on his head and money in his pocket.
