New playing conditions announced at Pura/ING Cup launch

Three new ING Cup playing conditions, regional venues for Pura Cup matches and new Spirit of Cricket awards were the highlights of today's Australian domestic season launch in Melbourne.

The Spirit of Cricket awards, announced as part of the Spirit of Cricket launch on 7 October, seek to reward teams that display the true spirit and traditional values associated with cricket.

Umpires will assign points to each team at the end of Pura Cup and ING Cup matches based on the conduct of all team members. The point scale ranges from three points (exceptionally good behaviour) to minus one point (unacceptable behaviour). An annual award will be presented to the team with the most points.

Cricket Australia Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said the awards, the other initiatives for the year, and Australia's depth of talent, augured well for an exciting domestic season ahead.

"The world's strongest domestic competitions exist in our own backyard," said Mr Sutherland.

"It's no mystery that both the Pura Cup and ING Cup competitions are the feeder systems which help produce our national players.

"Australia's international success over the past few years and 12 months in particular, in winning an eighth consecutive Ashes series, retaining the Frank Worrell trophy, and claiming a record third World Cup title, highlight the important role that the Pura Cup and ING Cup competitions play."

This season's Pura Cup, beginning in Perth on Sunday, sees a return of first-class matches to the Junction Oval in Melbourne and the Newcastle Sports Ground, which last season hosted a crowd of more than 16,000 for New South Wales' match against Western Australia.

Last year the Pura Cup experienced its highest season-crowd since National Foods commenced its sponsorship of the event in 1999, with 106,660 people attending first-class matches in 2002-03.

The ING Cup also welcomed record crowds last season with 146,646 turning out to see the limited-over competition, including 25,000 at Telstra Stadium for the match between the Blues and the Redbacks last February.

The 2003-04 ING Cup, which begins on 24 October with a day-night fixture between the Warriors and the Redbacks in Perth, sees three new innovative playing conditions included for this season:

Mr Sutherland said the combined rule changes would create added interest and incentives for spectators and players alike.

"The new playing conditions for the one-day game highlights that the ING Cup is truly one of the world's most innovative and progressive limited-over competitions," said Mr Sutherland.

"We are fortunate that with the support of competition sponsor ING, we have the opportunity to experiment with the playing conditions and seek new ways to add interest from a viewer and player perspective.

"The extra bonus point could add particular interest to a contest that might otherwise be very one-sided, while the free-hit concept - which has proved successful in other competitions - will attract much anticipation and excitement for that particular delivery."

The Free-Hit concept has been successfully used in one-day international competitions in the United Kingdom and was trialed at the recent State Institute Challenge series in August.

Reducing the number of players per team from 12 to 11 brings the structure in line with the number of players per side at one-day international level.

Other ING Cup match promotions returning this season include the popular Fastest Fifty competition, which rewards the player who scores fifty runs from the least number of deliveries, and the Hit the Sign competition.

Eight ING target signs are positioned around the boundary with $50,000 on offer for any player who hits the sign on the full during an ING Cup match.

Australia's rising players will also be in contention for honours this season, with the introduction of a new award, the ING Cup Best New Talent.

To be eligible, the player must have played no more than five domestic one-day matches during or before the 2002-03 season. The award will be judged by a panel of national media.

The 2003-04 Pura Cup and ING Cup playing conditions, as well as the full schedule for the 2003-04 Australian domestic season is available from Cricket Australia's official internet site, www.baggygreen.com.au