The long overdue revamping of first class cricket in South Africa will take concrete form at the end of August.
On August 31 the General Council of the United Cricket Board will decide which format the domestic season will follow during the 2004/2005 season, in a bid to drag the local game out of its current malaise.
The council will vote on either a six-five split with automatic promotion and relegation or a franchise system where smaller unions will join with a larger one.
The unwieldy and ineffective 11 team system has been blamed by a number of former players and coaches for the alarming decline in standards.
Players coming through the provincial system, with few exceptions, appeared unprepared for the rigours of Test cricket.
South Africa’s appalling showing against Australia two seasons previously gave impetus to a radical rethink of how the local game should be run.
For at least two provincial coaches and a clutch of former players, the change is long overdue and should have been implemented this coming summer, at the very latest.
The UCB though has to tread a path that will be acceptable to smaller Unions jealous of their place in top flight cricket and at the same time drastically raise the standard of play if South Africa is to arrest a worrying slide.
The problems of the local game notwithstanding, the United Cricket Board at least achieved another feat.
On Wednesday the UCB announced that they had become the first sporting body in the world to be awarded the International Standards Organisations certification.
According to CEO Gerald Majola, certification ”only follows after the building of a Quality Management System which is regularly audited by the South African Bureau of Standards”.
”We have been awarded this certification after strict scrutiny of our management practices, policies and procedures in all departments,” added Majola.
”The management system focuses on customer satisfaction and continual improvement of all aspects of our business.”
The UCB was also nominated this year as one of the Top 300 Companies in South Africa. Selection of companies is based on research into the leading companies within each economic sector, as well as through nomination and peer consensus.
While the UCB is doing well financially, the provinces are not as fortunate.
Majola denied that as many as eight of the Unions were in financial straits, adding that he was not at liberty to divulge the actual number. – Sapa