The Hindu : Domestic circuit restructured

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 22, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Domestic circuit restructured

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE Aug. 21. The working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket In India today unveiled a newly structured Domestic circuit for the 2002-2003 season.

Good news for a domestic cricketer is that the match fees has been increased and a benevolent fund is now in place for a cricketer who lives through the rigours of national cricket for seven or eight years without reaching the higher plain.

``A cricketer who spends seven or eight years playing in domestic circuit can happily retire with a few lakhs of rupees'', said Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya, President of the BCCI.

The committee dealt in detail with the reshaping of the domestic tournament.

The Ranji Trophy tournament has taken the shape of a two-tier event from this year. The Duleep Trophy will not feature Zonal teams and a senior one day tournament will adore the calendar and the winner is likely to figure in the ICC's newest concept - World Club Championship.

The two-phase Ranji Trophy format involves the elite division and the plate division involving the 27 teams featuring in the National senior tournament.

The elite is made up of 15 teams — the first three teams in the Ranji Trophy league of 2001-2002. The plate division involves the other 12 teams.

The elite division is further divided into two sub groups A and B consisting of eight and seven teams respectively.

As per draw of lots Group A in 2002-2003 will have Railways, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bengal. Group B will have Baroda, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

The teams in the sub groups will play each other on a league basis. The top two in each group would qualify for the semi-finals and the winner takes home the Ranji Trophy.

The 12 plate division teams would be split into two groups of six each. For the ensuing season Group A will have Goa, Saurashtra, Kerala, Services, Vidharbha and Tripura. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar will figure in Group B. The winner of this event is to be declared the Ranji Plate Champion.

Duleep Trophy in new format

The era of zonal teams fighting for honours in the Duleep Trophy is over. Instead, the five teams will have mixed compositions drawn from the two-tier Ranji Trophy. Three teams would be drawn from players involved in the elite division while the other two would be picked from the plate division.

The senior one-day tournament goes national from this year. After the zonal league the top five teams in each zone would qualify for a super league. The champion and the runner up would be determined on the basis of points earned in the Super League.

The Board is also introducing A teams tournament from this year to strengthen the second line. The first phase of this event would be a three-day zonal league. The second would be a knockout event among the champion team from each zone.

Changes at junior level

Several changes have been made at the junior level as well. The Vinoo Mankad Trophy (Under 19) has been turned into an inter zonal knockout tournament while the M. A. Chidambaram Trophy (Under 19) has been converted into a full fledged one day event featuring all the affiliated units.

The Vijay Hazare Trophy will now be a three-day inter zonal knockout tournament. The Polly Umrigar Trophy has been converted into a full-fledged national championship for Under 15 cricketers.

The Working Committee decided that the retirement age of the umpires would be 60 for those who have officiated in Tests, 58 for those who have officiated in One Day internationals but not in tests and 55 for others, subject to medical examination and fitness test every year.

West Indies tour of India (Itinerary)

Three-day match vs Board President's XI (October 4 to 6) - TBA; First Test (Mumbai) Oct 9 to 13; Second Test (Chennai) Oct 17 to 21; Three Day match vs India A (TBA) Oct 24 to 26; Third Test (Kolkata) Oct 30 to Nov 3, First ODI (Jameshedpur) Nov 6; Second ODI (Nagpur) Nov 9; Third ODI (Rajkot) Nov 12; Fourth ODI (Ahmedabad - day and night) Nov 15; Fifth ODI (Baroda) Nov 18; Sixth ODI (Jodhpur) Nov 21, Seventh ODI (Vishakhapatnam) Nov 24.

The first test has been moved from Kanpur to Mumbai for a specific reason. Though it was Kanpur's turn to host the test match, the Board, switched it to Mumbai so that Sachin Tendulkar could play his 101st test at his home ground and that the venue would be ideal for Board's felicitation. Sachin would be completing his 100 th test in England.

Mr. Dalmiya paid rich tributes to former Test cricketer Subhash Gupte, who passed away in West Indies recently. He said Subhash was to have received the coveted C. K. Nayadu Trophy last year. He said the Board Secretary Niranjan Shah would travel to West Indies to hand over the trophy and a cash award of Rs. 2 lakh to Mrs. Gupte.

BCCI AGM

The 73rd Annual General Meeting of the BCCI would be held on September 19 to 20 at Kolkata.

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