League Director Cruickshank

To some, the staging of the second annual Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) two-day semi-pro SuperCricket League was in some ways a disappointment; however, to others, including director of the league, Oneil Cruickshank, it was a relative success with the Maurice Kepple transfer loan saga being exactly what the doctor ordered as the sport seeks to move forward.

"Notwithstanding the developments over the last two weeks regarding the Kepple affair and the JCA having to launch investigations into the matches, we the directors of the League and the JCA believe we have a good product, and one that we can build on," said Cruickshank, who has been commissioner of the league since its inception last year.

"What the last two weeks has done is to present us with certain challenges that must, I say must, cause us to be a better organisation, both from a league perspective and a JCA perspective.

"What we need to do is embrace what has happened. We don't invite problems on ourselves, but the fact that they do come up, we must accept them as challenges, and rise above these challenges, as, at the end of the day, cricket must be the winner," he added.

The league, which this year saw winners Manchester taking home $1 million, second-place Melbourne Kangaroos $400,000, third-place Kingston Tigers pocketing $200,000 and fourth-place and dethroned champions St Catherine Saints, $100,000.

Among its inaugural features was the institution of retainer contracts for local players who, in the past, went overseas to play divisional league cricket during the early part of the year; the upgrading of match venues for players, officials and spectators' comfort; the acquisition of sponsors by the JCA for participating teams; and the contracting of regional players, also by JCA, to boost performances and crowd support.

helping sports locally

These, according to Cruick-shank, have helped to move the sport locally from a recreational perspective to a more business-friendly perspective in terms of administration, and, with the JCA planning to introduce new measures in seasons to come, he expects it to grow from strength to strength.

"At the start, we had a target that we would spend about five years or so to develop the league into a fully professional set-up and we believe we are on course to achieve our targets," he explained.

"One of the goals we set out at the beginning was to have enhanced standards in respect of administration of the sport.

"In the first year, the JCA assisted clubs and parishes through its capital infrastructure funds at the semi-pro and Senior Cup levels to improve facilities and since then there have been much improvement.

"Also last year, we had a lot of start-up problems with club and team officials, but this year that has not been the case.

"However, one area of disappointment, and there are a few, is that we have not been able reach the level where we want to be in terms of spectator support.

"It is something that we at the JCA and at the club officials and player level will have to rethink as to how we can improve, be it by more promotional activities, cricket experience add-ons, etc. These are all the things we will have to look at when it comes to a thorough review of the season," he added.