Former West Indies player renews calls for reduction in teams competing in ABCA competitions
By Neto Baptiste Former West Indies fast bowler and President of the Liberta Sports Club, Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin, believes a recent increase in the number of forfeitures in the ongoing Super 40 domestic cricket competition, strengthens his calls for a reduction in the number of teams playing in the top tier. Blackhawks have played only […]
Black News 
By Neto Baptiste
Former West Indies fast bowler and President of the Liberta Sports Club, Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin, believes a recent increase in the number of forfeitures in the ongoing Super 40 domestic cricket competition, strengthens his calls for a reduction in the number of teams playing in the top tier.
Blackhawks have played only four of their eight scheduled matches in the competition with 50 percent of their encounters being abandoned either due to unprepared pitches or the inability of their opponents to field a team.
“We have too many teams because we don’t have the players’ interest. When we have a tournament that people are really interested, you play but as far as I’m concerned, for the 40 overs and the two-day matches, we have too many teams competing in the ABCA programme. For the 40 overs, I would play eight teams and for the two-day, I would play six. If you play six and you play two rounds, each team gets 10 quality matches. But I know some people are talking about, if guys don’t play, what’s going to happen? Well, we have 10 teams and guys are still not playing. We want the best guys playing against each other and not to make-up of a bunch of little kids turning up on a Saturday morning to compete. That’s not helping the cricket,” he said.
Blackhawks had their opening clash against Tertiary Institutions & Schools abandoned due to a wet pitch on April 11th before winning by default over Bethesda Golden Eagles one day later. The Liberta men then won by default over All Saints Pythons on April 25 due to an unfit field before claiming another win by default over Bolans Blasters.
Benjamin said this is not a positive sign.
“This is really taking away from cricket development because you don’t want points, you want to play and when a team like Blackhawks, after the eighth round, we have only played four matches and we’re not hearing any word from the association, it begs me to wonder if they’re satisfied with what is going on. When you see teams like Pigotts and so on playing with men short, you have to ask yourself the question, how long are they going to stay put rather than reducing the teams?”
Asked if he thought there should be stiffer penalties for teams that default due to unprepared playing areas or insufficient players, Benjamin said there first needs to be change at the top.
“The associations do not have the will. They have overstayed, they are overtired and they are corrupt for ideas. Honestly, with all due respect, we are seeing nothing new coming from them and I think it is about time we look at the election, maybe get some new people in with some new ideas because, as far as I am concerned this association here, I don’t think they have anything else to offer the cricket,” he said.
Defending champions New Winthorpes Lions leads the standings with 32 points with an unbeaten run of eight wins. Empire Nation sits second with 26 points with Blackhawks third on 22 and Pigotts Crushers fourth with 20 points. Rising Sun Spartans round off the top five with 18 points.
