ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE

MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING

HELD AT BRADSHAW C.C.

27^th JULY 2009

A minute’s silence was held in respect of Barry Stansfield, the former Farnworth S.C. player.

Apologies: Eric Smith who was umpiring a Birtwistle Cup Semi Final. All other officials and clubs attended.

Minutes of the June Meeting; These had been circulated and were agreed to be a correct record.

Matters Arising; A list of people still requiring CRB checks will be emailed to club administrators. Clubs will be given 14 days to respond then the R&C Committee will be asked to take action.

The Chairman, Treasurer and David Morris will discuss the purchase of replica trophies and report back to the Committee. Clubs were asked to drop trophies off at Bradshaw C.C.

Westhoughton’s ground should be ready in August. Steve Parker explained the timetable. Eagley are prepared to transfer their first team match to Westhoughton’s new ground. There will be an opening night on 14^th August.

Correspondence; The Secretary had emailed clubs with an update on water rates.

Finance; Statement from the Treasurer emailed / enclosed.

Umpires; Clubs are reminded that the expenses for a full match are £33.

The Umpires’ Association were asked to let clubs know where there is a problem with the general behaviour of their second team, especially where there are child welfare issues.

Although in the short team umpiring assignments can be changed, as a matter of policy clubs cannot dictate who umpires their matches.

Lists of late or missing umpires’ report forms and score sheets have been emailed to clubs and the R&C Chairman for action. The President will be letting the R&C Chairman know which clubs have defaulted in phoning through their scores.

Mike Hall and Derek Kay had attended the Umpires’ meeting to run through some examples of the run rate calculations.

Birtwistle Cup Final; Both semi finals are complete and the final will be Greenmount v Little Lever on 9^th August.

Hamer Cup; Following protracted discussions it was agreed to waive Rule 35 and permit the semi finals to be played on 2^nd August, the scheduled date for the final. If matches are incomplete they must be continued weekday evenings commencing on the Monday. Kearsley have a Christening booked for 2^nd August, which will affect their catering arrangements.

The final will be played at Farnworth S.C. on 30^th August at midday.

The Vice Chairman felt the four semi finalists in the Hamer Cup should be rebuked for not attempting to fulfil the fixture according to the Rule. It was noted that it was only because there was a meeting scheduled for the day after the ties were due to take place that a waiver of rule had been possible.

Juniors; Tonge and Westhoughton were absent from the last meeting and Farnworth had sent their apologies.

A decision on the points allocation from the unplayed Farnworth S.C. v Horwich Under 13 match has been referred to the R&C Committee.

The Junior Presentation will be held on 17^th September. The juniors will hold a prize claim meeting by 1^st September.

R&C Report; A decision had been reached on the points allocation at the Kearsley v Westhoughton 1^st team match where there had been an error in the run rate calculation, however, this is now subject to appeal.

It was agreed that even if it is very wet, at least both captains and the umpires should be present when a match is called off.

Astley Bridge had no professional for the match against Heaton, but are hoping to sign a replacement professional in the very near future.

Disciplinary Report; The Committee has dealt with three reports this year with one pending.

It was noted that not just umpires could report incidents.

Inter League; The JW Lees Final will be played against the Ribblesdale League at Great Harwood on 9^th August following our semi final victory against the Bolton Association in a well-staged match at Astley Bridge.

The Under 18 team have won both matches and play the Lancs County League at Westhoughton C.C. on 9^th August.

The Seconds Inter League team were defeated by the Central Lancashire League.

Two Lancashire Over 50 players have been banned for two years following incidents at a County match.

Lancashire KO; Egerton are at home to Lytham in the semi final on 9^th August.

Overseas Players; Mike Gatting will be putting forward a proposal that overseas players are banned from the recreational game.

Proposed Restructure; The Committee agreed that the Chairman should set up a sub committee to discuss in more depth the paper he distributed at the last meeting and come up with a formal proposal by the October meeting to go forward to the AGM.

There were concerns there would not be sufficient umpires.

Date of Next Meeting; 24^th August.