Date-stamped : 28 Oct96 - 02:12 24 October 1996 Concern at club cricket standard - Rixon `distressed` by matches by Geoff Longley Concern about the standard of senior club cricket in Canterbury, expressed by New Zealand coach Steve Rixon, has been echoed by the local administration. Rixon, who watched parts of two Christchurch senior club matches last weekend, said later he was "distressed" by what he saw. "The standard was about that of third grade in Sydney -- at best," Rixon, a former New South Wales and Australian player, said. Canterbury Cricket`s chief executive, Tony Murdoch, said while he would have liked Rixon to have seen some more matches before passing comment, the standard in recent seasons has been a concern. "For the past three years I have been involved it certainly has been noted and raised at our forums on the game." Murdoch said the issue had been scrutinised by a cricket ad- visory group last season and would again be investigated. "We have real worries over the dearth of mature senior players 30 and over, the over all standard of pitches and of practice facilities." Rixon saw some of the Old Collegians v Riccarton match last Saturday, where Old Collegians were routed for 55, while he also went to Sydenham Park where New Zealand players Chris Harris (St Albans), Stephen Fleming and Lee Germon (Sydenham) were playing. He reportedly had trouble identifying what was the senior game as St Albans tumbled to be all out for 75. Murdoch said one suggestion bandied about had been a reduction in the number of senior clubs from the present 10, but it had not been taken any further. If it was, full discussions on the idea would prevail. Murdoch said a concern was that a generation of senior players had now come through having hardly ever played against Canterbury or New Zealand representatives. Since the early 1980s when the senior competition was expand- ed from eight to 10 teams, the Shell series had also been ex- tended with the season now often running from mid-November to mid- March. "While reducing the number of clubs may seem a simple solution, other factors must be considered," Murdoch said. They included another association, Christchurch Suburban, playing alongside the CCA; the lack of a district structure in Canterbury which now exists in Auckland and Wellington with re- gions there able to challenge for the Fuji-Xerox Cup. Despite New Zealand Cricket having canned the national second XI competition, Canterbury was still committed to a second tier level for preparing players to first XI level and was arranging its own matches this season. In recent seasons club rugby locally has undergone a restructur- ing and rationalisation of teams with clubs merging resources as the senior competition was gradually reduced from 16 to 10 teams. Source :: The Press (http://www.press.co.nz) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)