(Barbados Nation) The recently introduced demotion and promotion system has given Division One cricket in Barbados a new lease on life.
Speaking at the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) annual luncheon at the Accra Beach Hotel yesterday, president of the BCA, Joel Garner said that the system had helped to rejuvenate interest in local cricket.
At the beginning of the 2009 season the new system took effect with the bottom three teams being demoted, and the top team from the Upper Intermediate Division being promoted to Division One. However, at the end of the 2012 season one team will be promoted while only one team will be demoted.
Garner said that despite the skepticism which was shown when the system was first introduced, Barbadians were now showing greater interest as could be seen by the increased attendance at cricket games.
“During the last two to three years we have seen a lot of interest.
“People are now thinking a lot more about the cricket, they are thinking about how they are going to go about their business and there has been a lot more interest in general.
“If anyone had visited any three or four grounds on the last day of the season, they would have recognized that any one of six clubs could have gone down and the crowds were there,” he pointed out.
The former West Indies pacer revealed that as a result of this renewed interest, the BCA was now going to be more innovative and that plans were already underway to see what was the best way to go about doing so.
He said that a paper had already been presented by one of the committees and the BCA board was going to meet in ‘the not too distant future” to discuss the paper to see what new plans they had to change the names for the different competitions to make it more interesting.
“2012 will definitely be an exciting year for us,” he exclaimed.
The president said that 2011 had been a successful year for the association, noting that all competitions had been completed except for the Intermediate, and this was scheduled to be held done next month.
He noted that during the year four Barbadian cricketers had represented the West Indies, and with the Australian and New Zealand tours looming, he was hoping that more players would be picked to play for the regional squad.
Garner added that recently, the board’s emphasis had not been on winning, but rather on producing good cricketers. Winning, he said, would come as a result of this.
“I think the focus has changed where we are not just looking at winning,” he said.
“If we produce and develop the cricketers then it only follows that if we are developing good cricketers, – whole cricketers and well-rounded cricketers – then the whole system will improve.”
