Expected changes to the format of local cricket will be determined in two weeks' time.

At a special general meeting called by Bermuda Cricket Board of Control at Warwick Workmen's Club on April 3, club affiliates will be given the opportunity to give their approval to the restructure of the sport after examining recommendations made by national coach Mark Harper and his six-man committee.

Harper originally provided the Board with detailed recommendations for restructuring in a document entitled 'Bermuda Cricket: The Way Forward - Recommendations For Development' which was put into the hands of a committee, headed by the coach, for further perusal, adjustment and evaluation.

With the fine-tuning of the report having been completed and the Board having already seen the finished product, club affiliates will now get the chance to give it their final blessing before any new format is implemented.

Last October Harper went out on a limb, publicly stating that Bermuda had clearly been losing ground, pointing to the national team's poor performance against ICC countries they once used to defeat.

"The Bermuda cricket fraternity must realise that the cricketing world is on a fast track and it will pass this Island by if initiatives are not taken and attitudes changed immediately to uplift and keep pace," he said at the time.

Among Harper's original recommendations was a call for the Premier Division to comprise of the top seven teams with an Under-21 side and a player-coach, and the First Division to comprise of the bottom seven clubs with the usual relegation and promotion format.

Last year the league operated with all teams in one Premier Division without a First Division. But Harper feels that teams would benefit more if they were more evenly matched which would be the case if they were split into two divisions.

He also called for the league season to begin in April and then finish before Cup Match with the Knockout to start in August. September, he suggested, should be reserved for visiting tours and a Bermuda cricket festival.

While confirming that everything was in place for the meeting with the affiliates, newly-installed BCBC president Reginald Pearman said that the Board were looking forward to having the procedure completed so that work could be begin on the build-up to the new season.

"Once this is out of the way we can look ahead to the start of the season, this will probably happen around the first or second weekend in May," said Pearman.

The cricket season started a few weeks earlier last year mainly because the Knockout final, washed out the previous season, was squeezed into the schedule to precede an incoming tour of the Island by MCC.

The restructure of cricket, according to Pearman, has not delayed the start of this season.

Pearman said clubs were normally given a month in order to get their facilities ready following the soccer season which officially ends with the FA Cup final on April 7.