Jermaine Lannaman,
jamaica-gleaner.com/
Richard Pybus, West Indies Cricket Board's new director of cricket, believes the format of this season's NAGICO Super50 is not ideal, and it is something that he hopes to address going forward.
The tournament, which bowls off next Thursday in Trinidad and Tobago, is set to see the six traditional regional teams as well as invited team Ireland and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) battling it out over the course of a two-week period.
This is in contrast to last season where the teams, excluding Ireland, faced each other over a five-month period when the tournament was twinned with the regional Four-dayers.
TIME TOO SHORT
"I think the format is something that we may need to address going forward," said Pybus, who was appointed to his post late last year.
"Two and a half weeks could be considered a bit too short, as what we will have this season is some teams playing only three matches.
"This cannot be ideal in terms of the development of West Indies one-day players, and is something we will have to look into," added the former Pakistan and Bangladesh coach.
The tournament, which was won last season by the Darren Sammy-led Windward Islands, will see the eight participating teams being sub-dived into two zones of four.
The teams are set to play each other in the preliminaries in a round-robin format, following which the winners and runners-up will advance to the semi-finals.
The final, to be at Queen's Park Oval, will be held on February 15, with February 16 earmarked a reserve day in case of rain.
The other venue that will be used throughout will be Shaw Park in Tobago.
Jamaica, to be led by Chris Gayle, will play the defending champions on the tournament's opening night in a Zone A fixture at Queen's Park Oval. The zone is completed by Ireland and Guyana.
Zone B consists of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Leeward Islands and CCC.
