Premier League Clubs in the Jolly's Drinks Cornwall Cricket League will decide on the format for the 2002 season at January's annual meeting.

The League Management Committee has been both aware and concerned that the 2001 format did not prove satisfactory and have ensured that various options are available.

These include a preferred LMC option to abandon the Cup in favour of an extended number of Premier League games.

It was apparent, and understandable, both during the season and at the seminar with Frank Kemp (ECB), held at Truro in August, that clubs do not wish to have blank match days during the season.

It has also been acknowledged that the Premier League Cup, as with previous Sunday Cup competitions, did not capture the imagination, with a number of games conceded and invariably much weakened teams being put out.

In order to avoid blanks the LMC actively pursued the ECB to approve the accreditation of a 12 team Premier League.

This was formally rejected in October by the ECB. Also a proposal to have 12 teams, whether or not sanctioned by the ECB did not receive the required 25 per cent of votes from the league clubs to go forward for consideration at the AGM.

Therefore in order to resolve the fixturing problems the League took up the offer from the ECB, who've funded professional expertise by enlisting the services of a lecturer in scheduling at Sheffield University.

As a result solutions, though by no means perfect, are now available.

A ten-team matrix that will interlink with the league's existing 12-team matrix ensuring 1st and 2nd XIs are opposite has been devised.

This means that over 18 match days a complete premier league programme can now be played home and away.

That leaves four days with no premier games when the rest of the league play home and away against two opponents in their 12 team divisions.

Options available at the AGM are:

Option 1 – The LMC have come down firmly in support of a proposal to abandon the Premier League Cup competition and have a 27-game Premier League season with each team playing each opponent three times.

The format would see the usual set up with a home and away fixture with each opponent to be played over 18 match days.

Additionally the first half of the season's fixtures would then be repeated to give another nine games.

Four sets of games would be played on the existing four blank match days to ensure that in future every club plays every Saturday and holiday Monday of the season - with no blanks whatsoever.

The remaining five sets of fixtures to be fitted in by extending the season by one week into September and fixturing four set Sundays throughout the season, avoiding county games.

The advantages are that there will be no blanks. Each Premier team will have either 13 or 14 home league games during the season, thus allowing for any lost or rained off games.

The 27 games are just one fewer than the league and cup games last year and the season would run from April 27 to September 7.

Option 2 – Maintain the Cup competition playing foour opponents home and away to be played over five Saturdays and Sundays both at the start and end of the season to give ten cup Saturdays and Sundays in all.

The disadvantages are that every team must still have at least a couple of blank days and a number of teams will have even more due to an unavoidable in-balance in home and away games in the schedule. There are only four teams in the West Group in 2002. The 18 premier games would be played between Monday May 6 and Saturday August 24.

Option 3 – Play the cup at the beginning of the season but only one game against each opponent. This will give four cup games over a five-day period at the start of the season. Disadvantages: As in option two - of the five match days (four Saturdays and one Bank holiday Monday) all clubs will have at least one blank, some two and possibly even three blanks for some teams in the west group in 2002).

Premier Season to run from May 18 to August 30. A knock on effect to teams in all other divisions of the league will be that over the opening four games of the season they will all play two opponents twice, both home and away.