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The Jamaica Cricket Board of Control's 1999 season gets under way on Saturday with the opening round of the three Senior Cup competitions and if more money and more cricket mean anything, it should be a wonderful season.

Last year, although there was some sponsorship for the Cornwall Senior Cup and the Middlesex Senior Cup, there was none for the Surrey Senior Cup. This year, however, cricket has found a friend in the Cigarette Company of Jamaica, who, through its Rothmans brand, has come up with sponsorship of two million dollars to cover all three competitions.

Apart from putting on the table a first prize of $40,000 for the winners of the Surrey Senior Cup, $30,000 each to the winners of the Cornwall Senior Cup and the Middlesex Senior Cup, and a whopping $100,000 first prize when the three winners meet to decide the all-island champions, the sponsorship will also provide financial assistance for the participating clubs and parishes.

Following the disappointing performance of the West Indies team in South Africa, and the poor batting in the regional Busta Cup, it is obvious that club cricket throughout the region has failed West Indies cricket, and because of their lack of support for club cricket, that sponsors, despite all the talk of its importance to the West Indian society, have failed West Indies cricket.

Club cricket is the important link between schoolboy cricket and firstclass cricket, club cricket is where those who learnt the game in school develop their skills and are prepared for national representation, and if club cricket around the region is weak, it is obvious that the national teams will be weak. It is also obvious, or should be, that if the national teams are weak, the West Indies team will be weak.

The Jamaica selectors, for example, can only select from what the clubs and parishes put on show, the West Indies selectors can only select from what the territories have on parade, and strength has never come out of weakness.

CCJ obviously recognises this, and by providing local cricket with two million dollars to assist in the development of the game, it has demonstrated a concern for Jamaica and West Indies cricket and deserves a round of applause from those who love the game, those who love Jamaica and West Indies cricket, and those who have been disappointed in the performance in the West Indies team and who, looking around for replacements, are even more disappointed.

Over the years, the traditional Senior Cup, contested by Corporate Area clubs plus St. Catherine CC, has been stronger than any other competition around the island, and although the JCBC ruled a few years ago that the Cornwall Cup and the Middlesex Cup were on par with the Senior Cup, realistically that is not so.

In time, however, they could all be on par, and all because of CCJ the same company which spends millions of dollars on local football and in so doing, contributed more than any to the success of the national team.

Apart from the prize-money available, and the assistance to the teams, in the new-look competition, the winners of the three Senior Cup competitions will meet to decide the champion team in Jamaica, and the challenge for the rural teams to knock off top clubs like Kensington, Kingston and Melbourne should motivate the players and the teams to a new level of dedication and commitment.