Clubs vote for change

THE Barclays Evening League is set to revert to its former structure. A meeting of Guernsey Cricket Association clubs last night thrashed out plans to have a straight divisional format next season after three years of the Premier and Reserve conference system.

The top flight would still have eight teams, with the provision for games to be re-arranged; the optimum number for other divisions would be nine teams, with postponed games not being replayed and the teams sharing the points.

However, it was proposed that there would not be unfettered promotion and relegation between the divisions, as clubs voiced their opposition to having two teams from one club in the same division.

Instead, there would be provision for teams who are eligible for promotion to gain it automatically by finishing in the top two or, if they placed third or fourth, to earn a play-off at the discretion of the GCA management committee with a side finishing in the relegation places in the division above.

'I was quite surprised that the meeting was fairly evenly split at the start between people wanting to keep the current format and those wanting to revert to the old structure and by the end of the evening the consensus was to go back,' said GCA president Dave Nussbaumer.

'But I have to emphasise that nothing is set in stone as yet. It still has to be voted on at the annual meeting.

Another proposed change was that EL rules would be altered to allow weather-affected matches be played to a minimum of 10 overs per side rather than the current 15.

'That was an interesting idea whereby it might be feasible to start a weather-delayed game at 7pm to ensure the fixture is fulfilled,' Nussbaumer said.

As expected, the Super Eights competition will be scrapped and will not be replaced by any form of evening knockout.