Border club cricket teams the University of Fort Hare and Bohemians Cricket Club are all set to contest the Momentum National Club Championship and the Multiply T20 Community Cup competitions respectively as representatives of the Warriors.
This after the weekend’s play-offs between Border and EP were not held due to EP being unable to supply a winner for their club league.
Although no official confirmation has been forthcoming from Cricket South Africa on the matter, Border CEO Thando Booi confirmed that Fort Hare and Bohs would represent the Warriors after consultations with the CEO of EP cricket Mark Williams last week.
“I spoke to Mark on Thursday and he requested that the playoffs be postponed and although we would have liked to assist it became clear that we would not be able to,” explained Booi.
“One of the main issues was that the team that was going to play in the Community Cup is supposed to leave on Wednesday, so when could we postpone it to if the team had to leave so soon.
“With Fort Hare it was also a problem to postpone because they have three of their players competing in the Future Cup this week, so it would not have been fair on them to expect them to play a game once the players had returned next week.
“So it became clear that although we would like to postpone that there would not be time, so then after speaking to Mark about these issues on Saturday we came to the agreement that the Border teams would go through.”
Williams was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press yesterday however EP cricket president Donavan May disputed the claims that an agreement had been reached.
“I don't know anything about an agreement being reached at this stage, we are still waiting for CSA to reply to us on the matter,” said May.
“I have had no discussions with anybody regarding this and I am still waiting on CSA to advise us.”
For EP matters came to a head last week when an unresolved appeal lodged by PE's United Cricket Club, which if ruled in their favour would see them move above Gelvandale Cricket Club who currently top the EP club logstandings.
During a club cricket match played back in January, the game was called off after umpires deemed the pitch dangerous to play on after 17 overs of the match, with the points from that match shared between the two teams.
United then disputed this decision and wanted the full points of the game to be awarded to them.
An exhaustive process by the Union was then conducted to try and work out the problem, before it was decided that the only available option was to send the matter to arbitration. “The disciplinary committee then decided that the points from the called off game should be shared between the two teams according to the decision taken by the disciplinary chairperson who based his decision from the bylaws and playing conditions,” said May.
“We then informed the clubs of the verdict which had been reached, before we then received a letter of appeal from United Cricket Club disputing the decision taken by the disciplinary committee chairperson.”
From here the matter was referred back to the DC who said they would not change their ruling, it then went to the appeals committee which is made up of the chairman of legal and governance and the chairman of the cricket committee. The appeals committee found nothing wrong with the original verdict and thus referred the matter to the CEO, who after consultation with both affected clubs could not come to an agreement as only one club was willing to come to the party.
Playoffs still in the balance
This after the weekend’s play-offs between Border and EP were not held due to EP being unable to supply a winner for their club league.
Although no official confirmation has been forthcoming from Cricket South Africa on the matter, Border CEO Thando Booi confirmed that Fort Hare and Bohs would represent the Warriors after consultations with the CEO of EP cricket Mark Williams last week.
“I spoke to Mark on Thursday and he requested that the playoffs be postponed and although we would have liked to assist it became clear that we would not be able to,” explained Booi.
“One of the main issues was that the team that was going to play in the Community Cup is supposed to leave on Wednesday, so when could we postpone it to if the team had to leave so soon.
“With Fort Hare it was also a problem to postpone because they have three of their players competing in the Future Cup this week, so it would not have been fair on them to expect them to play a game once the players had returned next week.
“So it became clear that although we would like to postpone that there would not be time, so then after speaking to Mark about these issues on Saturday we came to the agreement that the Border teams would go through.”
Williams was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press yesterday however EP cricket president Donavan May disputed the claims that an agreement had been reached.
“I don't know anything about an agreement being reached at this stage, we are still waiting for CSA to reply to us on the matter,” said May.
“I have had no discussions with anybody regarding this and I am still waiting on CSA to advise us.”
For EP matters came to a head last week when an unresolved appeal lodged by PE's United Cricket Club, which if ruled in their favour would see them move above Gelvandale Cricket Club who currently top the EP club logstandings.
During a club cricket match played back in January, the game was called off after umpires deemed the pitch dangerous to play on after 17 overs of the match, with the points from that match shared between the two teams.
United then disputed this decision and wanted the full points of the game to be awarded to them.
An exhaustive process by the Union was then conducted to try and work out the problem, before it was decided that the only available option was to send the matter to arbitration. “The disciplinary committee then decided that the points from the called off game should be shared between the two teams according to the decision taken by the disciplinary chairperson who based his decision from the bylaws and playing conditions,” said May.
“We then informed the clubs of the verdict which had been reached, before we then received a letter of appeal from United Cricket Club disputing the decision taken by the disciplinary committee chairperson.”
From here the matter was referred back to the DC who said they would not change their ruling, it then went to the appeals committee which is made up of the chairman of legal and governance and the chairman of the cricket committee. The appeals committee found nothing wrong with the original verdict and thus referred the matter to the CEO, who after consultation with both affected clubs could not come to an agreement as only one club was willing to come to the party.
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