Sandy Strang: SNCL on wane says batsman Bruce

Brewster has spoken. And, whenever Bruce Michael Winston Patterson, pontificates on cricket, it's always worthy of attention.

Former Scotland batsman Patterson is candid, combative and impassioned - the man who on a glorious July afternoon at Hamilton Crescent in 1989 took on a mighty Australian attack of Greg Campbell, Carl Rackemann and Merv Hughes, and put them to the sword with a superbly-crafted 70. And he's typically unequivocal in his opposition to the SNCL. He's against it for one big reason - the extensive travel has been a major discouragement to many older players.

He says: "For those of us wishing to give a bit back to the game in the form of a mentoring, coaching or senior pro role, the thought of these long, grinding journeys on many a Saturday is just too much.

"Consequently, although I'm still pretty fit, I've not played a game for three years now. Shorter travel distances would greatly encourage players to stay in the game longer. I can personally vouch for the great benefit of playing with, and against, older, more experienced players in the former Western Union, but the SNCL has prematurely ended many a senior player's career."

Another former Scotland international still turning out in the SNCL has also indicated he would warm to a regional league - provided it was highly-competitive. Veteran Freuchie all-rounder Davie Cowan, now 47, relishes the possibility of a Caledonian Regional Premier League under mooted reconstruction proposals. He said: "Playing against the likes of Aberdeenshire, Arbroath, Forfarshire, Stirling County and West Lothian on a home and away basis would be exciting., as would the return of the Sunday District Championship games, which saw the best club players pitted regularly against one another, and did much to help me advance from club to international cricket."

On the other side of the fence some illustrious members of the pro-SNCL lobby have finally gone public. Former Clydesdale skipper Colin Mitchell, now an adviser to the national selectors, is adamant that reverting to a regional set-up would be highly detrimental, saying: "Ditching the SNCL would mean a step-down in quality."

Mitchell, who masterminded the Titwood club's back-to-back SNCL Premiership triumphs in 2004 and 2005, added: "Surely we want club cricket to be played at the highest available level. Going back to regional leagues would inevitably represent a dilution. Just a few years ago Clydesdale won the SNCL Premiership twice, and Ferguslie came close twice. Both clubs challenged the established hegemonies of Grange and Greenock. I doubt this could have happened without a national league vehicle. Our success at Titwood was founded on home-reared talents like Kasim Farid, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh and Andy Hislop, as is now happening with Arbroath and Forfarshire, currently in the top four. The SNCL Premiership provides an appropriate quality stage to which home-grown players can aspire." Some possible way forward through the maze of opposing entrenched views may become more apparent after tomorrow. This is deadline day as set by Cricket Scotland for the return of a questionnaire e-mailed to all 450 registered SNCL players. This survey is also accompanied by an official "SNCL Reconstruction Statement" on the CS website, which states: "It is important that the debate remains focussed on the central and most important issue, viz, do we wish to retain and modernise the SNCL to make it more fit for purpose while continuing to allow Scotland's best clubs to play each other regularly in a nationwide league? Or do we wish to move to a system of regional Premier leagues with an end-of-season national championship play-off while integrating these leagues into the current feeder structure in order top allow competition on a more localised basis?"The cricketers themselves already know the real issues - many are presently playing some pretty mediocre SNCL cricket, the fixture schedule is skewed, with no provision for a logical home-and away pattern and many players are travelling inordinate distances for this dubious privilege.