Takapuna District Cricket Club

Recently the ACA Board of Directors confirmed the structure of the men’s premier club competition for 2010-11 following a robust review.  Within that communication it was advised that the premier reserve competition would continue to mirror the premier competition in format, with the exception of Twenty20 which is to be a premier competition only.

 This memo serves to provide some further detail around the premier reserve competition for the upcoming season.

Two Day Competition

 As with the premier format, the premier reserve competition will mirror the two-day competition structure and be split into two sections from the start of the season – a Major Championship and a Minor Championship. 

 The Major Championship will comprise eight teams and will compete for the President’s Cup. The Minor Championship will comprise six teams and will compete for a new trophy yet to be named.

 At the end of the season there will be an automatic promotion/relegation between the top placed team in the Minor Championship and the bottom placed team in the Major Championship.  In the first season there will also be a play-off game for promotion/relegation between the second placed team in the Minor Championship and the second-bottom placed team in the Major Championship.  The future of this play-off game will be reviewed at the end of the 2010-11 season.

Major Championship Format

-             One full-round robin, i.e. 7 games

-             At the end of the round-robin teams are split into a top 4 / bottom 4 based on competition points

-             All points are carried through to the next round

-             Within the top 4 the teams ranked 1^st and 2^nd play the teams ranked 3^rd and 4^th, i.e. 2 games.  Finishing positions are based on total competition points after these two games

-             Within the bottom 4 the teams ranked 5^th and 6^th play the teams ranked 7^th and 8^th, i.e. 2 games.  Finishing positions are based on total competition points after these two games

Minor Championship Format

-             One full round-robin, i.e. 5 games

-             Followed by one incomplete round-robin, i.e. 4 games

-             In other words all teams play each other twice bar one

Make up of Major & Minor Championship

The Board decided that the make-up the premier major and minor championships will be based on the average finishing position of teams across the past two seasons. Auckland Cricket management believe that, in order to maintain the strength and integrity of the premier reserve competition, the same rule must be applied to the premier reserve competition. Therefore the make-up of the premier reserve major and minor championships will be based on the average finishing position of teams across the past two seasons.

There has been considerable debate on how to fairly position the Auckland University and Ellerslie sides, considering they will have premier and premier reserve teams in their own right; the Birkenhead City side, considering their re-introduction into the premier competition; and the Eden Roskill side, considering their re-introduction into the premier reserve competition.

Auckland University & Ellerslie – whilst it is acknowledged that the University-Ellerslie combined premier reserve side has finished 6^th and 1^st in the past two seasons (an average finishing position of 3 that would see them in the major championship), a stronger consideration is that they now have their own individual teams in each grade.  Thus between these two clubs there are now four teams competing across the premier and premier reserve competitions, where previously there were only two.  Further, Ellerslie and University finished 4^th and 8^th respectively in the 2009-10 Senior A1 competition and it is expected that many of these players will take the spots in the reserve sides.  As such, the premier reserve sides of both clubs will be in the minor championship for the 2010-11 season.

Birkenhead and Eden Roskill will also each have a second team in the premier reserve competition for the first time, so these two clubs will also be in the minor championship for the 2010-11 season.

 Given the above, the make-up of the major and minor championships is as follows:

Major Championship

Cornwall, Howick Pakuranga, Grafton United, Parnell, North Shore, Suburbs New Lynn, Takapuna, Waitakere City

Minor Championship

Auckland University, Birkenhead City, East Coast Bays, Eden Roskill, Ellerslie,

Papatoetoe

 The decision to treat the make-up of the premier and premier reserve two-day competitions independently brings with it some administrational challenges, namely the fact that the draws will no longer mirror each other. This means that clubs will no longer be guaranteed to have either a premier or premier reserve side scheduled at home each week. In order to reduce the likelihood of both sides playing away Auckland Cricket will reserve the right to manipulate fixtures in the premier reserve competition. Premier reserve sides will not lose a home fixture but may have extended home or away runs to ensure they play on number one wickets as often as possible.

One Day Competition

 The premier reserve one day competition will involve all 14 clubs split into two pools of seven.  The make-up of the pools will mirror the premier pools to allow for inverse home and away match scheduling.

 In a unique format, teams in one pool will only play each team in the opposite pool (i.e. they do not play teams within their own pool).  This allows for 7 round-robin games and no bye.

 Following the round-robin the top two teams within each pool will play each other in a semi-final match.  The winners of this match will play off in a final, from which the winner will represent Auckland at the National Club Championships.

Twenty20 Competition

 There will be no standalone premier reserve twenty20 competition. There will be a premier twenty20 competition only. This competition will involve all 14 clubs and clubs are encouraged to field their best twenty20 side. This may consist of premier reserve or even senior A1 players.

 Teams will be split into two pools of four and one pool of six.  The pools will be, where possible, regionally based.  Within the two pools of four, teams will play each other once (i.e. 3 games).  The pool of six will be split into two sub-pools of three and in the same way as the one-day competition is structured, the three teams in each sub-pool will only play teams from the opposite sub-pool.  Again this is to ensure that all teams play three matches and there is no bye.

 Following the round-robin, the winners of each pool and sub-pool will play in semi-finals followed by a final.

 The round-robin matches will be played midweek through three weeks in January (days to be determined) on a home and away basis with games to start at 5.30pm.  The semi-finals and final will be played on a Sunday in February.

General

 The following general points are also of note:

-             The two-day and one-day competition formats provide for a regular premier reserve cricket season of 25 days, plus two finals days on Sundays (one-day semis and final).  We are seeking to start the season with the one-day competition on the second weekend of October (9 October), which provides for 23 weekends of premier cricket through to the end of March, this means that only two Sundays are required for premier reserve cricket in the regular season.  We believe this ensures less playing days and in particular, less Sundays, in line with the strong feedback from the online stakeholder survey.

-             The premier reserve competition format will not be locked in for any pre-defined period.  It will be reviewed as necessary from season to season.

-             Recommendations from the review group regarding playing conditions and points structures will be passed onto the Club Cricket Advisory Group for their consideration.  These include comments around bonus points.

Overall

 This review process has been a challenging yet robust one.  In particular there has been significant debate over the two-day competition and whether there should be a split competition (as is the case) or one that involves all 14 teams. 

 The ACA Board has decided on a split competition structure to create the toughest level of play in what is considered the most important playing format for premier cricket.  However the Board has noted the concerns of some clubs about possible negative affects the split competition could have on clubs in the minor championship and to alleviate these concerns it was decided that:

-             In the first year two teams in the minor championship will have the possibility of promotion into the major championship (one being an automatic promotion, the other a play-off game).  From then on there will continue to be an automatic promotion / relegation, however the play-off match will be reviewed.

-             Auckland Cricket will have a written policy in place that ensures Auckland Aces and ‘A’ team selectors will give equal attention and weighting to players and performances within the minor championship.

-             All 14 principal clubs will be involved equally in two of the three premier competitions - the one-day and twenty20 formats. 

The finer details of the playing calendar and pool groupings will be finalised in the coming months.  In the meantime if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either Daniel Farrow or Kieran McMillan.

Thank you for your involvement in this process.  There is a high level of interest in premier and premier reserve club cricket and issues such as competition reviews are never easy – people will always have differing opinions.  However, Auckland Cricket believes it has consulted widely, listened and ultimately has developed a competition structure that meets the needs of players, clubs and ACA.