Cricket Australia gets sponsor for domestic one-day tournament
The domestic one-day cricket competition in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 began Wednesday with much curiosity over the new rules that have been added to the competition. But the biggest piece of news was that the Cricket
Australia was finally able to get a title sponsor for the tournament. The tournament will be called Ryobi Cup after Cricket Australia and Bunnings got into a five-year deal for the competition.
Ryobi is one of the products that Bunnings, a power tools and garden tools firm, manufactures.
James Sutherland, CA’s chief executive, welcomed the partnership and said that they would look forward to the same with much interest.
"Today’s announcement is an important and exciting one for Australian cricket. Our interstate competitions are arguably the strongest in the world, and to have the support of a well-known national brand
for five years is a great result," said Sutherland.
Cricket Australia had tweaked the rules around for this one-day competition amidst many concerns about how it will pan out and whether the Australian side would be prepared enough before the 50-over World
Cup in 2011 in the Indian sub-continent.
According to the new rules, instead of having a 50 overs game as has been the case earlier, the games would be 45-over long but divided into two innings of 20 and 25 overs each. The bowlers will be allowed
to bowl 12 overs, and the side can choose from 12 players. However, only 11 can bat or field at a given time.
There will be no powerplays in the games, but for 10 of the 45 overs, only two players will be allowed outside the circle and for the remaining 35, a maximum of four can go out.
The implementation of the new rules had drawn criticism from some teams and players who felt they didn't have enough time to practice the new format, and there was speculation the lack of a sponsor was
symptomatic of the lack of enthusiasm for the format.
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