Experimental one-day rules to be tried out in Australia
Taking a cue from their counterparts in England, ECB, which experimented with the Twenty20Cup to revitalise the domestic competition this season, Cricket Australia has decided to introduce a series of innovative one-day formats on a trial basis in the annual eight-team State Institute Challenge to be held in Queensland from Saturday.
The series, which features state and territory institute or academy teams, will also include a national Indigenous XI for the first time this year as part of Cricket Australia’s High Performance Indigenous cricket programme.
Match formats for the 2003 State Institute Challenge include 20-over matches with 11 players on each side and games featuring two 25-over innings, 40-over matches and 50-over matches.
New innovations include a “free hit” for batsman on the next ball they face if a bowler is no-balled for over-stepping, while bowlers will gain an additional over to their maximum allocation for every two wickets they take.
A new fielding rule will also be tried out whereby the ball is immediately declared “dead” if it hits the stumps during a run-out attempt.
At least one of the 50-over matches will also experiment with bowlers starting the match with a new ball at each end.
Staged in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns over eight days, the tournament will showcase various limited-overs match formats and experimental one-day playing conditions.
The move to play the series in far-north Queensland follows the successful staging of last year’s State Institute Challenge in Darwin, and reaffirms Cricket Australia’s broader commitment to take the game to new areas after the recent Australia-Bangladesh series in the Top End.
Former Test fast bowler Paul Reiffel, a member of Cricket Australia’s project umpire panel, will again officiate in several of the matches after participating in the 2002 series in Darwin.
The eight state and territory teams competing in the State Institute Challenge are: Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Indigenous XI, New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS), Northern Territory Institute of Sport (NTIS), Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), South Australia (SA), Tasmania Institute of Sport (TIS) and Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS).