Township side cricket champs
First township team to win premier league following dispute ruling
JENDAMARK United Cricket Club were crowned EP Premier League champions for the first time yesterday after Cricket SA-appointed arbitrator Alex Abercrombie awarded them full points from a disputed fixture.
In doing so, United have become the first township side to win the premier league since unification.
United edged Gelvandale by two points after Abercrombie gave them a full six points by overturning a previous decision to share the spoils with SA Home Loans Union.
United chairman Gerald Majola was elated with the outcome.
“This team is by far the club’s best since the unification of cricket in 1991,” Majola said. “Our flagship team has played good quality cricket against the best in the province and deserve all the accolades attributed to them for a stellar season.
“As a unit they have developed into a mean machine and real powerhouse, especially in their last three games of the season. It is a great pity that they could not test themselves against the best clubs in the country.”
Yesterday’s ruling will have come as a hammer-blow to Gelvandale, who thought they had won the league for the first time after the initial decision by a disciplinary committee. Gelvandale opted not to comment yesterday.
The matter arose when the premier league fixture between Union and United was called off by umpires on January 21 due to a dangerous pitch.
To the frustration of Gelvandale and United, almost two months passed before the matter was finally heard before a disciplinary committee on March 15.
That committee decided the points should be shared between United and Union. That would have given the title to Gelvandale by one point.
But United did not agree with the outcome and appealed. An appeals committee then met and still no resolution was found.
In the meantime, the CSA Club Championship provincial playoff matches were due to be played between EP’s and Border’s champions in Fort Hare on April 1 and 2.
The winners of the playoffs would then have represented the Warriors at the 50-over Momentum Club Championship and the T20 CSA Community Cup.
Unfortunately, EP did not send a representative because they did not have a league winner. This after EP chief executive Mark Williams was tasked to negotiate with Gelvandale and United in accordance to CSA’s MOI.
CSA and Border were also approached and requested to move the games to a later date to allow EP to finalise their problem, but without success.
The MOI then prescribed that should negotiations be exhausted an arbitration process would take place. CSA was asked for assistance and it appointed an arbitrator.
The arbitrator yesterday reversed the previous decision and ruled that United be awarded a full six points from the Union match. That essentially handed the league trophy to United by two points.
At the time of seeking intervention from CSA, EP president Donovan May said: “It is acknowledged that our dispute resolution mechanism is not conducive to resolving matters speedily.
“We want to make sure that the change programme embarked on last year will result in matters like this being resolved effectively.”