Cricket: New-look domestic leagues ready to come into their own Published on Sunday 6 May 2012 02:10 IN between the early season showers, cricket supporters have already had a taste of a new-look Scottish Cup and on Saturday revamped leagues will come into effect. The route by which two Conferences came into being was circuitous to say the least, involving sometimes acrimonious debate and even threats of a breakaway, but the outcome appears to satisfy the majority. Having rejected last season's highly unpopular set-up of two 16-team divisions, clubs were given the choice of switching to a Premiership and Championship, each of ten teams, or a regional alternative. The former option won the day by a margin of 19-13, thus removing 12 teams from the national league in one fell swoop. At this point Cricket Scotland's Future Structures Group, somewhat bizarrely, decided to present a new option involving an Eastern and Western Conference, each comprising a Premier Division of eight teams and a First Division of eight teams. This final option was adopted with such widespread approval that many wondered why it had not been on the table from the start. With the administrators having done their job, it is down to the players to embrace the new set-up and there is a sense of anticipation on both sides of the east-west divide. Containing eight of the top ten teams from last season's SNCL, the Eastern Premier division appears to hold the competitive edge but the introduction of an end-of-season play-off between the two regional winners will go some way to settling the arguments. On paper there is little to separate Edinburgh's big three of Carlton, the final SNCL champions, a revitalised Grange, and a Watsonians side who have Saltires professional Jean Symes in their ranks. Neil McCallum, who will captain Grange for the first time as they bid to re-establish themselves at the top, said: "I think the new set-up will lead to some really competitive cricket. Most people seem to be happy with it and we can't wait to get started. The Eastern Premier looks like a division where every side is capable of beating any other. But we know that means it is going to be a very hard division to win. Heriot's will push hard to match their capital rivals while Aberdeenshire and Arbroath should lead the challenge from the north. Forfarshire, having lost key players, and Stoneywood-Dyce may find the going tough. Clydesdale and Uddingston, the only sides in the Western Premier Division who featured in last season's top ten, will start favourites on the other side of the country. However, the Titwood club will compete without a professional and have also lost Omer Hussain to Kelburne, while Uddingston will miss Paul Hoffmann, who may bat but cannot bowl due to a shoulder problem. Elsewhere, West of Scotland have former Yorkshire and Scotland World Cup pace bowler John Blain as player-coach. Dumfries, with a clutch of talented young players, may cause some surprises, while South African Craig Thyssen will add ballast to Ayr's challenge. Drumpellier and Stirling County may be mid-table but Greenock, having lost several stalwart performers including Willie Rowan and Chris Bellwood, may find that their 150th anniversary season is not a vintage one - at least on the park.