Maritzburg pessimistic about first-class status

The prospects of Maritzburg becoming South Africa's 12th province appear to have dimmed, according to Maritzburg Cricket Association president Mike Hickson.

Maritzburg's second attempt to win first-class status will be considered at the United Cricket Board annual meeting this weekend, but Hickson has admitted that his initial optimism over the bid has been tempered by recent hints of resistance from the other unions.

"Some of the provinces are struggling in terms of finance and they don't want to see their share of the money the UCB ploughs into each of the affiliates being reduced by the addition of another union.

"But the present system for applicant affiliates is the same as the one for the football World Cup, where you regularly get people voting to preserve their short-term parochial interests rather than the good of the game as a whole. There's lobbying, collusion and a secret ballot that produces a result that leaves applicants in the dark as to why they have failed and what needs to be done to succeed in the future, instead of a result reflecting the good of SA cricket as a whole in terms of development, equity etc," Hickson alleged.

"It is to be hoped that the UCB supports the development of cricket in SA as it did with Bangladesh," Hickson said of the tiny Asian country that has recently secured full Test status.

Hickson also suggested the implementation of a new system for deciding whether prospective affiliates were strong and capable enough to become new provinces.

"I think what is needed is for someone to design a program where there is a phasing in process to govern the path to affiliate status. The new affiliates must pass successive points on the path and this would be a transparent process with clearly-defined targets regarding facilities, development program, playing strength, transformation and so on that need to be achieved by applicants before they are admitted to succeeding levels of affiliate status."

Hickson refuted suggestions that the Natal Cricket Union had been privately working against Maritzburg's bid, saying: "They've been right behind us and, in fact, I feel we've had more support from Natal this year than last year."

The Natal Cricket Union have been given a mandate by their various sub-unions to vote in favour of the split at the UCB annual general meeting.