A MAJOR shake-up of club cricket is on the cards after 18 of the 30 national league members voted in favour of a range of reforms proposed by Cricket Scotlan (CS).
From 2011 the three-tier SNCL now stands to be split into a 14-team Premiership and 16-team Championship, with only one team going up and one going down at the end of the season.
An SPL-style split at the end of the round-robin stage of each d
ivision is also likely to be introduced, followed by a play-off between the top two teams to decide the winners.
CS, in a bid to reduce the six-figure sum of money that leaves the country each summer in the pockets of overseas club professionals, is also ready to stake up to £90,000 on having a say in who the clubs employ.
Clubs will be subsided to the tune of £2,000 if they consult with CS over their appointment of a qualified coach – who would double as a local development officer – as their pro, and an extra £1,000 if they recruit a Scotland-qualified player.
"We are delighted with the outcome," said CS chief executive Roddy Smith yesterday.
"With a margin such as 16-14 it might have been difficult to push through, but I think 18-12 is pretty convincing. I would like to push all the reforms through but we will take on board some of the comments made by those who voted "no" which were very pertinent. By tweaking a few of our proposals I'm pretty sure we could end up with the support of a much larger majority than 18 out of 30."
If the league reconstruction takes place, there will be no relegation from next summer's Premier Division, with the top four teams from the First Division entering the new Premiership.
