by EZRA STUART

A NEW TWENTY20 TOURNAMENT will be played alongside the Banks Division 1 and Sagicor Super Cup competitions when the 2008 Barbados Cricket Association's (BCA) season bowls off on May 3.

This was revealed at a pre-season meeting for clubs and schools which was held at the BCA's office at Kensington Oval on Thursday. It was also revealed that the extra points awarded for batting and bowling performances in the first 75 overs would be maintained but those given for first innings lead would be scrapped.

In explaining the changes and plans for the new season, BCA's president Joel Garner said the Twenty20, Super Cup and Shield "knockout" competitions would be played on Sundays only while the Division 1 competition would be played over three consecutive Saturdays.

On the first Sunday, the Sagicor Cup will be played and the second Sunday will be for the Twenty20 competition with the final Sunday as a rest day.

The Twenty20 competition will be restricted to only Division 1 clubs and will be played along the same format as the Sagicor Super Cup with two eight-team zones.

The top two sides in each zone will then play the teams finishing second in the other zone in the semi-finals with the winners clashing in the final which will be played under lights at Kensington Oval, which will also host the other finals.

Garner said it had been proposed to play the school's cricket competition on Fridays
so the clubs could utilise the schoolboys on weekends.

The former Test pacer indicated that talks which began last November, were ongoing with Ministry of Education officials.

Garner also said the BCA was proceeding with plans to have an accredited coach attached to every Division 1 club. He also announced that the BCA might assist clubs with umpire's fees and match balls and urged Division 1 clubs to establish a junior developmental programme.

No matches will be scheduled for the weekend of June 14 and 15 when the third Test between the West Indies and Australia will be contested at Kensington Oval. There will also be no cricket on Sunday, July 27, because of the Party Monarch Finals.

Garner said a promotion and regulation system will come into effect at the end of the 2009 season.

The same format will be used for the Sagicor Super Cup as in previous years but there will be no quarter-finals with the top team in each zone opposing the runner-up in the other zone in the semi-finals at neutral grounds.

The final will again be played as a day/night match but this time at Kensington Oval.