Date-stamped : 03 Apr96 - 10:18
New Competitions In South Africa Domestic Cricket

The recent Benson & Hedges Night Series final in Johannesburg was
the  last  match  to be played under that banner in South Africa.
From next season domestic limited over cricket  in  South  Africa
will  be sponsored by Standard Bank and two competitions will re-
place the current night series.

The Standard Bank league will be played in the first half of  the
season and will involve all 11 provincial teams playing each oth-
er in a round robin format. The winners of this  league will   be
crowned the Standard Bank League champions.

The second half of the season will see the top 6 sides  from  the
Standard Bank league as well as Kenya and the reigning Zimbabwean
domestic champions (currently  Mashonaland) participating  in   a
knock out tournament which will have a three match final.

UCB managing director Ali Bacher stated that part of the  motiva-
tion  for the revised format were the fortunes of South Africa in
the World Cup and Western Province in this  seasons B&H   series.
Both  teams  won  all  of their matches in the preliminary rounds
only to be eliminated from the competitions as soon as  they  en-
tered the knock-out phase.

Standard Bank are keen to retain coloured clothing for  the  com-
petition  and  to  have  matches played on Friday evenings and on
Sundays.

<END> Contributed by Bob.Dubery (dauphin@aztec.co.za)