ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD AT BRADSHAW CC
28TH JUNE 2010
Apologies: R Sturch, C Monks
There was no representative from Westhoughton CC present.
Minutes of the May meeting: These had been previously circulated and were accepted with the following amendment with regard to an incident which took place in the 2nd XI match between Westhoughton CC and Astley Bridge CC, the Disciplinary Chairman requested that it be minuted that “both clubs were censured and warned as to their future conduct in relation to the control of their players on the pitch”
Matters arising: Farnworth had sent in their Child welfare list. Bradshaw asked for a break down on the fines owing from 2009.As these fines could have been issued from the R&C committee last year, it was suggested the Chairman contact Mike Hall for the break down.
Correspondence :There had been a directive from the ECB that any ball bouncing more than once would now be called a no ball. This was referred back to the junior committee to decide if all age groups were to follow this as it was felt the U11 might find problems
Clubs had been circulated re Hamer cup final and the following clubs put forward their names as willing to stage the final if Walkden were still in the competition. AB,BR,
Fa, HO, WE. The first vote ended in a tie between Br and We, with We being the club to stand by to stage the cup if need be,
The ECB code of conduct had been sent out to all clubs.
Finance: stood as follows: current ac. £2548, sav/ac £1809.19, Junior coaching acc £3903 and there was £919.80 in the legal fund.
The following clubs owed money BR, FA, WE, HO, EG TO AB, EA.
The treasurer was to notify the clubs fined for missing a junior meeting as to the date of the missed meeting. Rod Sandiford suggested that in future clubs don’t get their allocation of junior balls unless paid for up front.
There had been strong objections to the letter sent out re future invoices dealt with by direct debit and this would not go ahead. Mr Monks put two options forward
A suggestion was put forward that £100 be allocated, from the current account, to be given back to clubs at the end of the season. Any fines owing could be taken out of this. This was deemed a possibility.
From now on there would be no reminders for clubs to send in umpire’s marks or result sheets.
Umpires. Clubs were reminded there was no time added on for people stopping the game by walking behind the sightscreen. This had caused problems at some clubs where functions were being held and the entrance to club was near to the sightscreen.
There would be a mid season umpires/ captains meeting at Heaton CC starting at 7.30pm on Wednesday July 14th. First and second team captains or Vice captains should be in attendance. Failure to attend will result in a £25 fine per member not attending
Most clubs were getting their marks in on time.
Paul Garnett raised the report sent in re 11 LBW decisions and had the umpires acted on this. He was told the LBW law had been discussed at the umpires meeting, last Monday.
John Hutchinson raised a problem occurring in junior matches re playing in the rain. In senior cricket umpires generally allowed 5 minutes play in rain and then would come off. This should be the same in junior cricket as it was not safe to play in very wet conditions.
A query had been raised about not having a ball to play with due to the large number lost in an innings.
Transfers A Hughes Astley Bridge to Bradshaw, Z Khan Heaton to Tonge, A Lowe Horwich to Astley Bridge, M Warren Horwich to Heaton, W Bateson Westhoughton to Horwich, J Whittam Astley Bridge to Bradshaw, J Kerrigan Little Lever to Egerton
Registrations A Barrington (Tonge), A Ali (Heaton). R Hawke (Horwich), A Hawke, (Horwich)
Disciplinary A first team player had received a one-match ban and another, his second minor offence which was put on record. An incident involving spectators at Little Lever v Farnworth had been investigated, the result of which led to Little Lever being asked to write to all members re their conduct at the ground and the steward ask to not serve those who were over the limit. All Captains had been informed they were likely to be held responsible for banter with spectators if something went wrong.
There were two players reported from FSC and another report re a spectator, waiting to be dealt with. John asked that all reports be written and he would not accept verbal accounts of incidents.
Ground report Graham would not accept verbal reports either. He had three matters to deal with. Covers not put on grounds on Friday night or Saturday morning before a match, the umpires changing facilities at Little Lever and the pitch at Horwich. Clubs were reminded covers should be on the pitch on Friday night, the condition of the umpires changing room was improving, with the leak having been fixed and hopefully some water would sort out the dry Horwich pitch.
The chairman said it was a credit to all grounds men for the nature of the pitches at present. Graham was concerned about the batsmen digging trenches when marking their guard. It wasn’t within the protected area so it was outside the laws of the game.
Juniors. Mike Buckley said clubs were not checking fixtures. There had been an opportunity to do this prior to approval before the season started but once they had been approved then they couldn’t be changed.
Other cricket reports The league 2nd XI would play the CLL on 11th July at Clifton CC starting at Midday. Ian Senior asked that some league officials attend. The Axford Cup would be played at Westhoughton on Monday August 30th
The inter-league semi final games were Lancashire County league V North Lancs/Cumbria and the Ribblesdale league V Manchester Association. The final would be held on a ground from the winner of the Ribblesdale league /Manchester Association match.
Proposal. In response to a suggestion the league needed some criteria to ascertain the suitability of professionals for the league, the following proposal was put forward for clubs to discuss and give their views at the next meeting.
“ It is minuted that the Bolton league will accept as professional any player who has played at least two first class matches in the past two seasons, along with any player from UK Premier Leagues or ECB accepted ‘professional Leagues’ where professionals are compulsory, provided that have averaged over 700 runs or 60 wickets in the previous three seasons. The league will also accept players who have averaged over 500 runs and 30 wickets, or 45 wickets and 350 runs in the same period. All other players will need the approval of the league committee.”
Date of next meeting July 26th