By EDWARD BOURKE
The Eastern Cricket Association is poised for a major revamp after a proposed new match format was voted in at the league’s annual rules meeting last week.
The league will consider the introduction of split-innings two-day games, where the matches will be split into quarters to shorten the time a team continuously bats or fields during a game.
The change comes as participation rates in the association’s lower divisions for senior men’s cricket have slowed, despite the 2016/17 National Cricket Census reporting record-breaking growth of 9.03 per cent in overall cricket participation.
Association president Michael Slattery said the rule change aimed to breathe fresh life into the lower men’s divisions.
“One of things we look at is player participation and retention, and we’re always on the lookout for ways we can assist clubs in doing that,” Mr Slattery said.
“We’ll ask clubs for feedback on whether they will be interested in having teams play under this rule.”
The new rule would alter the form of the traditional two-day game, where a team can bat for 72 overs on the first Saturday and return to bowl 72 overs the next week, into a format where the teams would each bat and bowl for 36 overs on both days.
Mr Slattery said the change was designed to help more players become meaningfully involved on match day in the lower grades.
“You can turn up on day one and be batting, and either not get a bat or only face a couple of balls, and end up sitting around and doing nothing all day,” he said.
Despite receiving necessary approval from the league’s clubs, some teams expressed reservations about the rule change.
St Kevin’s Old Boys Cricket Club’s 3rd XI captain Bill Fithall said he could not see how the format change would retain and attract more players in the lower grades.
“You still need to get people to commit to two days of cricket, so I don’t really see how it makes the game any more appealing,” Mr Fithall said.
Mr Fithall said the change could make it more difficult to involve players in the field.
“With the proposed 36 overs per day, it makes it a lot more difficult to share the overs around, because your best five bowlers will be fresh by week two and wanting to bowl again,” he said.
Mr Fithall also expressed concerns with the more intricate details of the rule, including forcing players to retire at 100 runs.
“You might have one good innings in four years, imagine having to stop halfway through because you have to retire!”.
The 2018/19 ECA season starts on Saturday, October 6.