Tony Becca

THE FINAL of the Capital & Credit national limited overs cricket competition takes place on Saturday at Sabina Park with St. Catherine CC up against the Jamaica Defence Force.

Whereas St. Catherine won the right to contest the final by defeating Melbourne in the semi-finals, JDF got into the final on a better net run rate following their rain-ruined semi-final match against Kensington.

The rules governing the competition state that if there is a tie or a no-result in either semi-final, the right to play in the final will be determined by the team with the most wins in the preliminary round, or, if still equal, the higher net run rate in the preliminary round will apply.

Based on that, Kensington, which like all the other participating teams, did not protest against the rule at the start of the competition, have to accept their fate ­ just as Melbourne had to do in the Supreme Ventures Super Cup when the semi-final match against Kensington at Melbourne was abandoned, was not replayed, and Kensington moved on to the final.

On that occasion, the match was abandoned because the pitch was ruled unfit for play after lunch on the first day of the two-day contest. On this occasion, the match ended a no-result because rain prevented the team batting second facing the minimum 25 overs.

DECISION STANDS

With the rule being what it is ­ and it is the same rule that governs the regional limited overs competition ­ Kensington, winners of the Super Cup, can do nothing about the decision that has robbed them of a chance of winning the double.

That rule, however, is not good for cricket.

Although the tournament is local and the administrators do not have to worry about the cost or the inconvenience of changing flight times or booking hotel rooms, the rule, obviously, is to save time. It is not to promote the game, it is not to reward the efforts of the players, and even though the weakness has been brought to the attention of the administrators in the past, even though the players, certainly those who have suffered because of it have complained about it, nothing has been done about it.

This is yet another bit of evidence of the administrators paying little attention to what is good for the game, what is best for the players, and that, probably, is one reason why West Indies cricket is now lagging behind the rest of the world.

It just does not seem logical to use net run rate to decide which of two teams move on when the two teams compete, not in the same group where they oppose the same teams and the same players and performances can be better judged, but in different groups with different teams and players and where it is impossible to judge the performance of one against the other.

While net run rate can be used at the group stage where the teams play each other and where performance of each team can be better judged, it should not be used at the semi-final stage where the two teams are coming out of different groups and, therefore, have not competed against the same teams and the same players.

REWARDING PLAYERS

The question, therefore, is what should happen whenever there is a tie or a no-result in a semi-final match?

In a local competition, and the Capital & Credit is a local competition, if playing cricket is what important, if rewarding the players for their efforts during the season is important and if winning the championship is important, the thing to do is to set aside the following day for the completion of the match.

The semi-finals of the Capital & Credit competition were played on Saturday, Sunday was a free day, and if the Jamaica Cricket Association had set aside Sunday for the completion of those matches if necessary, Saturday's final would be between the two teams that had won the right to be there.

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