Canada's Geoff Barnett, here hitting against Kenya during last year's World Cup in St. Lucia, is one of the national team players expected at the domestic championships in King City on May 17 and 18. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Canada's cricket championship has been changed from a week-long marathon to a two-day sprint.

That's good news for fans, the new boss of the national association hopes, as he and his group get ready for this year's competition May 17 and 18, at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, just north of Toronto.

Eight teams representing seven provinces will compete in a new format that dumps the traditional 50-over/300 ball game in favour of the hot new Twenty20 style sweeping the world's professional ranks.

"We've basically had a situation [over the years] where we had good cricket played in Canada but not a lot of spectators because of the length and duration of the games," said Atul Ahuja, a banking- and technology-sector executive who took over the association last November.

"The idea was to … introduce a shorter version that's more exciting and full of a lot more entertainment and that would be attractive to spectators."

When he says shorter, Ahuja is not kidding.

Since "limited overs" cricket was introduced in the early 1970s as an answer to five-day test matches, the nationals have featured seven-hour games spread over seven days — a test both of the players' and provincial teams' pocketbooks, and fans' resilience.

Rules more TV-friendly

Twenty20 cricket, first introduced in England five years ago, has a number of unique rules designed to fit the game into a more television- and fan-friendly style, including only 20 overs that must be bowled within 75 minutes, penalties for time wasting and a maximum of four overs (24 balls) for each bowler.

Organizers will be using four pitches at King City that will host 24 games over two days — a breakneck pace for cricket.

Saturday games will be free for spectators, with a full-day Sunday pass going for $5.

Ahuja admits there was some resistance from the traditionalists to switching to Twenty20 cricket, but they worked it out.

"The surest way to have money come into the sport is to have spectators, which draws in sponsors and also basically draws in the government to come support when [it] sees a sport contributing to the economy," he said.

"There is resistance, but I think we've been able to come to a happy medium or a compromise … let's put it that way."

Scotiabank has signed on as premiere national sponsor and official bank for Cricket Canada.

Defending 2006 champion British Columbia will be back next Saturday, along with Alberta, Manitoba, two Ontario teams (due to the number of players in that province), plus first-time clubs representing Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

World Cup players in limelight

A number of players from the 2006 cricket World Cup club will be in action, including Umar Bhatti, Geoff Barnett and Sunil Dhaniram.

There will also still be time for tea — it will simply happen between games rather than between innings.

"You still break for tea, it's just a more efficient game, it's physically a more demanding game and mentally a more scientific game," Ahuja says.

Canada's national team will be chosen after this tournament ends, though not just from players at King City as some of the top performers were not available to compete.