Collegiate participation may be free of points

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Wanganui's Council of Clubs will decide this week how the points system of the 2014 Wanganui Premier League draw will play out for the remainder of the competition, with the prospect Wanganui Collegiate's First XI can only have a limited participation.

Having not taken part in the Premier 1 one-day club competition before Christmas, Collegiate's new-look squad has been included in Premier League to make a five-team grade.

But they require extra bye weekends because they are either playing or travelling to major inter-school games and tournaments on key Saturdays in the next couple of months.

The situation with the major cricketing school juggling its inter-college commitments with local club cricket fixtures is not new, as the 2013 summer ended with a couple of defaults.

One possibility is the other four teams may receive the winner's share of competition points every time they play Collegiate regardless of the match outcome.

"It looks like the only way to get round having Collegiate in the competition are to have them without points," said council chairman Neil Kirkwood.

"A few of the teams have spotted other things with that as well."

An issue with this concept is points accumulated under this process may become uneven if one club team physically plays Collegiate more times than another who receives a default, while the Premier League also uses a bonus point system.

Teams can boost their position on the table by methods like bowling their opposition out or scoring over 200 runs in an innings.

For example, Property Brokers United could expect at least one bonus point for bowling Collegiate out on Saturday on their way to a 120-run win but not another as they scored 179.

Full points would be given in a default.

The council will discuss the matter on Wednesday.