New format is worth a try

Jade Lewis looks likely to be the next on the list of promising New Zealand tennis players who failed to make it through the senior ranks.

It was confirmed yesterday that she has given up the dream, for now at least, of trying to make it as a tennis professional.

The 19-year-old, who became an overnight sensation by playing a close match against Venus Williams at last year’s ASB Classic, has chosen to return to studying at LSU college in the US.

On the back of the promise shown in that tournament, the independent Seed Foundation decided to financially support Lewis and was looking to give her around $150,000 a year to cover coaching costs and travel.

However, Seed Foundation chair Alan Chester revealed that it had pulled its funding in February.

Lewis failed to make it inside the top 1000 in the world rankings. She had a disappointing run of results last year in Europe, winning just one main draw ITF level match and did only marginally better in America towards the end of 2017.

This year she played three ITF tournaments in Egypt, only making it past the first round of the main draw once.

Chester said the foundation had to make the decision to no longer financially support Lewis.

‘‘We talked about her progress and where it had flat-lined a bit,’’ Chester said. ‘‘So we had a chat with her and decided to hold it back until a time where we could see a better improvement.

‘‘People may have been under the impression that we funded for three years, no matter what.

‘‘Well, it’s not that. The player has got to do their bit as well and if they’re not making progress, well we have a conversation with them and then make a judgment call from that.’’

It has been Seed Foundation philosophy that when it backs a player, to stick with them through thick and thin. However, there was not enough evidence that Lewis was making progress.

‘‘We do know there are tough times, there are transitions and injuries play a part,’’ Chester said.

‘‘But over a longer period of time, there still should be some improvement.

‘‘From when we supported her, to when we had a conversation with her, her ranking hadn’t improved and in fact it had gone back and she wasn’t getting the results she had to.

‘‘It wasn’t that we said goodbye, it’s that we’ll wait and see and if your results pick up, we’ll revisit the situation.’’

But with Lewis studying back at college, the chances of her making it have reduced and it could be that she will no longer pursue a career as a tennis professional.

Chester says there isn’t another young New Zealand player making enough waves for the foundation to be confident in backing.

‘‘There are several young ones on the radar screen, but we’re wanting one to put their hands up,’’ he said.

‘‘We haven’t got back to looking seriously at any who are on the radar, but we’re always watching.’’

New Zealand’s highest ranked junior boy is Macsen Sisam at 146 in the world, while the highest ranked girl is Valentina Ivanov at 86. They are the only two players inside the top 300 in junior rankings. OPINION: All the headlines and focus will be on 100-ball innings and wildcard overs, but actually the new tournament will stand or fall by whether or not it attracts the best players and coaches.

The format is not very different to existing Twenty20. Just 20 balls fewer. That is it really.

It will still be a highly skilled, intense, pressurised game of cricket. We will see great performances, stars born and drama unfold, but that would happen if it was played over 20 overs too. The Twenty20 game is brilliant and does not need changing.

I am at the IPL at the moment and this tournament is successful because it involves the best players, the best coaches and has showbusiness razzmatazz. You need celebrity around the teams to give it a profile that reaches out to non-cricket fans. Those aspects are more important than the number of balls in an innings.

I can imagine this new competition being more popular with the broadcasters. The BBC will be much happier with a game that is played over three hours and between 6.30 and 9.30pm. It fits nicely into their schedules and Twenty20 matches are starting to drag on, an inevitable consequence of the money and pressure the players are under these days.

I always support innovative ideas and love to see the game change. But we tinker with oneday cricket all the time and still we do not touch the one form of the game that has been declining for the past 15 years - test cricket.

We have done nothing to help that. Why do we have new ideas and innovation for white-ball cricket but not tests? It is a shame we do not see the same kind of energy put in to market test cricket. I am sure we will see huge digital campaigns around the new

competition, which will mean test cricket is further ignored. Do we now just have to accept test cricket stays the same and dies very slowly? What a shame.

The ECB will be laughed at by some for this idea. New concepts are always scoffed at. There is a chance they have made a simple format more complicated. Everyone understands 20 six-ball overs. But 15 six-ball overs and a 10-ball wildcard strategic over? That may be harder to understand.

But it will be a point of difference, a novel and fun idea that could work. Why not give it a go?