Cricket: One-day Hawke format cannot fly for some

Three-day games have long been the format for Hawke Cup challengers such as Northland. Photo / Northern Advocate

The Hawke Cup, the symbol of district cricket supremacy, could face a future as a one-day competition.

In what would have been considered sacrilege a few years ago, the three-day challenge format for the Hawke Cup has been questioned as part of a wide-ranging review of district cricket.

A person closely associated with the review who could not be named confirmed an overhaul of the competition had been raised as a discussion point but said it was only that, and the three-day format was still "on the agenda also".

The very thought that it could turn into a one-day tournament has caused some consternation in the districts, which see the Hawke Cup as the jewel in their crown.

"The feeling I get among our members is they wouldn't want to see it become a one-day competition," said Paul Anderson, chief executive of Hawke's Bay Cricket.

"If you try to take players out of district cricket into first-class cricket on a diet of one-day cricket, it's impossible," he said.

"Without a first-class second XI programme, I can envisage major problems with that approach."

The Hawke Cup in its current format - where teams from zones play a round-robin to determine who will challenge on the holder's own turf - is often given as a reason why the districts provide a far greater percentage of Black Caps than the population ratio.

Northland CEO Gary Bell, father of former New Zealand opener Matthew, is another who thinks district cricket will lose something special if the Hawke Cup is reduced to a one-day format.

"It's like a test match for the district associations," he said. "Over three days, you're going to find the best team. I don't see how you can do that with a one-day competition. There's a lot of good cricket played to even find your challengers. There's a real edge.

"It's such a special competition. The records go back years and years. We've had Robert Anderson, Barry Cooper, Brian Dunning, Bryan Young, Dion Nash. They'd all be appalled by the thought [it could become a one-day competition]."

Bell did say, however, that he could see the rationale behind a possible change. That rationale mainly revolved around costs and the fact there were different pathways, most notably age-group cricket, which were now seen as feeders to first-class cricket.

The news will be grist for the mill for those who think far too heavy an emphasis is placed upon short-format cricket, one-dayers and Twenty20. But the reality might be that the costs and slipping standards of Hawke Cup might necessitate a change. The decision to change might be pragmatic rather than ideological.

"It might be the best thing for the districts," said Mark Cleaver, Manawatu Cricket chairman.

"It would be sad in one sense but in terms of costs and logistics, it makes sense," he continued.

"Some of the smaller associations are struggling to field teams and it is not going to get any easier with the cuts in gaming funding."

An advisory group is expected to present the review of district cricket to NZC next month.