Local cricket is about to be ?hit for six? with a wave of innovation by the Bermuda Cricket Board?s (BCB) Technical Committee.

Unveiling the new-look structure yesterday, committee members Marc Wetherhill and Saleem Mukuddem revealed the one-day (or limited-overs) and two-day tournaments will be kept entirely separate and teams will be eligible for promotion and relegation in both competitions.

This means a team could find itself straddling both the Premier and First Divisions in a single season ? playing one-day cricket in one division and two-day in the other, depending on performance.

Saying the committee voted unanimously to keep the one-day and two-day leagues (and standings) apart, Mukuddem explained the eight teams in either division will play each other once in the one-day tournament.

There will be no bonus points in one-day matches and teams will be awarded six points for a win, four for a tie, and two for a rained-out match.

?Because of the very heavy scheduling with regards to tours and international competitions we don?t have any (extra) rain days for league games. Our schedule is very full,? he said.

As is the usual practice, two teams at the bottom of the Premier Division will be relegated and the top two in the First Division will be promoted.

?Whoever tops the league wins it and, in a case of two teams having the same number of points, the team who won the head-to-head encounter will prevail,? added Mukuddem.

The re-introduction of two-day fixtures is where all the difference comes.

The Premier and First Division will be split into two groups based on last year?s standings

?In the Premier Division?s Group A you will have Southampton Rangers, St. George?s, Cleveland and Bailey?s Bay. That?s the teams that finished first, third and fifth in the Premier Division and the first promoted team from the First Division.

?So the teams that finished second, fourth, sixth (in Premier) and the second promoted team go into Group B. That?s Western Stars, St. David?s, Willow Cuts and Devonshire,? said the South African expatriate who plays for Stars.

This same principle will apply to the First Division where Group A will consist of Somerset, Police, Flatts and Somerset Bridge and Group B will be PHC, Warwick, LegTrappers and Social Club.

?The teams in these groups will play each other once. So that?s three games per team. They will earn match points and first-innings bonus points.

?League standings at the end of the round-robin games will determine play-off spots. The team that?s first in Group A will play the team that?s first in Group B to decide who is the two-day champion. That will obtain for the Premier and First Divisions,? continued Mukuddem.

The other places will be determined accordingly with the second-placed teams vying for second overall, the third-place teams contesting third and the fourth-placed teams, fourth overall.

?That fourth-versus-fourth play-off game in the Premier Division is of great significance because the team that loses that will be relegated.

?By that same notion, the team winning the First Division?s first-place play-off will get promoted.

?So you could have a team playing one-day cricket in the First Division but two-day cricket in the Premier Division,? he told .

The two-day matches will consist of two innings over two days but teams will be restricted to batting a maximum of 70 overs in their respective first innings and a minimum of 112 overs must be bowled per day.

?If you think about a one-day game ? that?s 100 overs (50 per team) ? so this is only an additional 12 overs. It?s not unreasonable,? noted committee co-ordinator Wetherhill.

Play will begin at 11 a.m. in two-day fixtures and end at 7.30 p.m. subject to the 112 overs being completed.

A maximum of five bonus batting points will be earned (one point each) for reaching 125 runs, 150, 175, 200 and 250. A maximum of five bonus bowling points will be awarded (one each) for taking two, four, six, eight and ten wickets.

There will also be match points depending on the outcome with an outright win worth 20 points. In a drawn game, the team gaining first-innings advantage gets ten points while the other team gets three.

While there will be divisional knockout competitions this season there will be no combined knockout tournament.

All these details will be outlined to club coaches and captains at Warwick Workman?s Club at 6 p.m. tomorrow. Others with a genuine interest in cricket development are also invited to attend this meeting.

?The important thing is that the cricketing fraternity gets behind the two-day process. What the public has before it represents the best that we were collectively able to come up with,? said Wetherhill.

?I wouldn?t be so bold as to say it?s perfect and we will meet again to address questions and comments and make the format better if possible.?

Mukuddem concurred that ?teething problems? could be expected but stressed ?this is in the best interest of Bermuda?s cricket development?.

?We didn?t want to do something for the sake of doing it. We deliberated for hours to make sure our goals were achieved,? he said.