South Australian Cricket Reformats To Step Up Game, Club Officials Worry

A "radical restructure of South Australian cricket to haul the basket-case state out of the doldrums will be rolled out next season to strong opposition from grade clubs," according to Andrew Faulkner of THE AUSTRALIAN. South Australian Cricket Association Dir of Cricket Jamie Cox's blueprint -- a new premier league formed from the best grade cricketers -- "must also overcome a mooted revolt of clubs' senior players." In an "ambitious rewrite of the traditional Australian cricket structure," Adelaide's 13 clubs will surrender players for four new sides, one for each point of the compass in the city. The Northern Territory will provide a fifth side, and a sixth -- possibly a national indigenous team -- "will be announced in due course." The reform is "aimed at lifting the standard of cricket" in a state that has not produced a regular Australian player since the time of Darren Lehmann and Jason Gillespie. Club officials said that they "fear the league will wreck their competition by starving it of the best talent." Cox said, "I hear their concerns, but I do think that that's an over-reaction" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/11).