Canterbury's club cricket seems certain to have some fundamental changes made if initial responses to a discussion document prepared by Canterbury Cricket chief executive Richard Reid are any indication.

Reid is set to visit all clubs on the second leg of his 'road show' to discuss the proposed changes and the feedback he has received. He is keen to have completed the exercise by July 20.

Most significantly, he said, there appeared to be almost universal recognition of the need for change to the competition in the club structure.

Regionalising the competition has been one aspect that has caused considerable discussion but it has attracted more support than criticism. The issue of promotion-relegation appeared to have been accepted as a necessary part of changes.

Reid made the point that he believes the point of all cricket has to be winning and made a definite statement when saying, "I do not buy into the reasoning that club cricket should be 'practice' for four-day cricket."

Reid said his proposal to merge the one-day and two-day competitions had considerably raised the temperature in debate and said he may have been guilty of not making his point clearly enough.

"I am not against having a one-day final and a champion club and will explain how this would work when I visit with you all shortly," he said.

"In a nutshell I hear all your concerns and understand clearly the value of a one-day winner.

"A bonus point-based system, to me, is a necessity to ensure that two-day cricket is played for the right reasons and for all participants."

Reid's suggestions regarding the hours of play have also attracted some comment but responses were running 50/50 in regard to change.

However, he admits defeat in changing the season to November-April.

He was also unconvinced over concerns being expressed about the use of artificial pitches.

"There is certainly some resistance to this and I need to understand exactly why this is.

"New Zealand Cricket have stated that the 'growth' of artificial pitches is crucial to the development of the game and I agree with this.

"I would like to see all junior cricket over a period of time, defined as primary schools cricket, played on artificial pitches.

"Where we go with this and how it translates into adult cricket requires some work but I think we all need to get over prejudices, real or imagined, and have an open mind," he said.

Reid said there had been some outstanding suggestions regarding cricket in schools.

He envisages that all secondary schools' cricket will eventually be administered by clubs.

"I understand that this will require some significant changes from the way that some clubs are set up, not to mention the schools. But if we are serious about addressing the drop-off of players as they move through secondary schools the above has to happen," he said.

Reid also answered a criticism of Canterbury Cricket that too much time was spent on representative cricket and not enough on clubs and districts. He said he hoped he had made it clear to clubs that they and districts will be Canterbury Cricket's focus and that representative cricket was an output of that focus.

© CricInfo