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Bahrain’s cricket season is set to brighten up with pink balls and colourful attire for the teams in a bid to spice up the league.
The Bahrain Cricket Association (BCA) aims to raise the profile of the sport in the kingdom and attract more sponsors, fans and ultimately increase the prize pot for the players, said BCA tournament committee member Yaser Sadeq.
He added: “We want to put behind us the wrangles that we had in the past and start this season, which begins on Friday, on a new footing and put the game of cricket above all other things. We will also be cracking down on indiscipline during games, such as abuse of umpires.
“We have started work on improving the quality of the grounds in Riffa where we play our matches every Friday. We have also put new matting wickets in place,” Sadeq said.
Helping him in the endeavours are fellow tournament committee members Vijay Sailor, Rizwan Shah and Bilal Mohammed. “Most of the players come from poor financial backgrounds, so the presence of sponsors will help us offer valuable cash prizes and gifts which will encourage players to give their best,” Sadeq added.
The idea to introduce pink balls appealed to Sadeq when he saw a tournament in England last year being played with them.
As the season’s launch ties in with the high-profile Think Pink cancer awareness campaign the league hopes the pink balls will help the charity raise awareness as a spin-off to the initiative as well as the sport’s governing body’s plans for more night-time cricket.
With a noticable decline of spectator interest in five-day Test matches, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the world’s cricket authority, is toying with the idea of introducing pink balls so that Test matches can also be made a day and night affair.
So, the introduction of pink balls in Bahrain ties in nicely with the ICC’s policy of switching from the traditional red cherry, although matches on the island must be played during daylight as there are no floodlit stadiums available for cricket.
Sadeq said: “The players have also shown keen interest in playing with pink balls and coloured kits as 20 teams have signed up for the first tournament of the season – a 25-overs round robin league which ends on November 11.
“Of these 12 teams of the Premier Division were divided in two groups with Bahrain Cricket Club (BCC), Sri Lanka Club, ABM Climax, Mass Cricket Club, Alpha Security Young Boys and AVIS Young Challengers in Group A, while OBM Khan CC, Indian Club, Ritz Carlton, Public Security, Bahrain Cricket Club ‘A’ (BCC ‘A’) and Alpha Biometrics Al Khalifa CC were drawn in Group B.”
To make the game more interesting, the BCA is trying out split innings matches in which the teams will each play 20 overs in the first innings, followed by the second innings of 25 overs each. The second innings will continue from where the first innings ended, which means a player who got out in the first innings cannot bat in the second innings.
And each bowler can bowl a maximum of nine overs in the match which can be split among the two innings. This event – from November 18 to January 27 - will be played in the traditional white kit and red ball; and will see the introduction of two supersubs who can take the place of players in the first eleven and carry on till the end of the innings.
Sadeq said: “We have brought in the supersubs rule so that two other players, apart from the playing eleven, can also be a part of the action and that will encourage all the players to be on their toes.”
The season also includes a T20 tournament and a one-day 7-a-side tournament for National Day on December 16, which is open to all teams.
The Second Division includes DHL, EM Dekor, Youth XI, Lankan Warriors, Bahrain Warriors, Eagles CC, Punjab XI and Falcon CC. These teams will be involved in four 20-over league tournaments, with the first one starting on Friday. The season finale for both divisions is on May 4.
