ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD AT BRADSHAW C.C.
31st OCTOBER 2011
Apologies: The President and the Treasurer. All clubs were represented.
Minutes of the September Meeting: These had been circulated and were agreed to be a correct record of proceedings.
Matters Arising: Walkden became the tenth club to enter the ECB T20 competition. A separate meeting will be held with the clubs to discuss the dates for our portion of the competition. Several clubs have suggested utilising the second May Bank Holiday Monday, with four teams playing in a KO at one ground.
The Committee agreed to stay with the Reader cricket ball.
Mike Buckley will be designing a standard spreadsheet for first and second team league and Hamer / Birtwistle Cup averages. Clubs should include all players with ten innings and over 100 runs with an average over ten, and players with fifteen or more wickets. Wicketkeepers and fielders should have more than ten victims / catches.
Due to confusion over an email address, Heaton C.C. are being given the opportunity to resubmit an appeal against a decision regarding incidents on 30th July.
At the November meeting Andy Bowker will give a presentation covering the benefits of Playcricket, including the costs and ease of submitting statistics.
Electronic scoring will be given further consideration at the December meeting. Karen Knott will report back from a seminar.
Correspondence: The Secretary had previously emailed documents relating to the payment of coaches.
The Secretary read a letter from the BCLU&SA stating that the Association Wish to retain our current degree of independence, which we feel to be in the best interest of the Bolton Cricket League, ensuring impartiality of umpires.
Finance: To follow.
Umpires: The Umpires have reactivated their page on the boltoncricket website and included a quiz.
The Umpires course at Walkden C.C. was cancelled due to lack of numbers, but there will be one at Astley Bridge from 10th January.
Winter training for the umpires begins at Bolton Indians C.C. next week.
Final dates are awaited for the LCB Indoor KO, but Heaton will be playing on 8th January, the same day the Axford Indoor KO begins. Amendments to the indoor rules will be considered at the November meeting. Approval was given to purchase new stumps and balls.
Juniors: The Junior AGM will be held at Astley Bridge C.C. on 17th November.
Junior proposals were discussed. Concern was expressed that if a club was allowed to drop out of Under 15 cricket without running an Under 18 team this could impact on the clubs senior teams.
Proposed Amendments to Rules: Most had been discussed previously, but comments were added to the following:
SO 12 - League expansion are we looking to merge or expand? Are independent second team leagues feasible, or would teams have to follow their first teams? Would we allow a new club from outside the area to play their junior cricket in another league? For the foreseeable future we would have to accept clubs would have to provide their own umpires for most second team matches In most other leagues the clubs in the top ties have to have Clubmark to ease administration Most leagues with more than one division appoint an Executive to run the league apart from the AGM and occasional Special General Meetings Rules would need to be updated There would have to be minimum standards for facilities and ground equipment in the top tier, a more professional approach would have to be taken to covering pitches.
The rider to the proposal to Standing Order 12 would be minuted, but would not appear in the Handbook.
Rule 14(c) it was agreed a contracted profession would have to actually play for a club in that capacity.
Rule 26(q) the 30-yard circle would bring us in line with other leagues and external cup competitions. It was noted that exceptionally the circle would extend outside the boundary.
Rule 26(z) The difficulties for the umpires to judge the wide were noted.
Rule 26(a) An alternative proposal was put forward that the League would have to approve the coloured clothing for each team.
Rule 27 There are proposals that there is a maximum of 10 overs per bowler, and that one bowler can bowl more that 10 up to a maximum of 20.
Voting forms for the proposals will follow, and must be signed by the League Representative or deputy and another club official chairman or secretary. The same applies to the junior proposals.
League Dinner: The Chairman thanked Anne and David Morris and Derek Kay.
Although less than 100 people attended, with only four clubs taking more than the minimum allocation of tickets, there was still a profit of £225.
The Chairman asked the Secretary to write to the chairmen of the 5 clubs who did not have anyone attending.
Fixtures 2012: The Committee agreed that clubs should have alternate home and away fixtures, and that priority should no longer be given to a balanced number of Sunday fixtures or the avoidance of neighbouring clubs playing at home on the same day.
Inter League: The Bolton League are away to the Central Lancashire League on 10th June, with the winners at home to the Lancashire County League or Saddleworth League on 8th July. If successful we are at home in the final on 12th August.
The Under 18s are in the same group as the Lancashire County League, Manchester Association and Saddleworth League. Fixtures are to follow. We are away in the final.
Peter Stafford has stepped down as Reader Lancashire Inter-League KO Chairman after 12 years.
Date of Next Meeting: 28th November at Bradshaw C.C.
Date of AGM: 12th December at Bradshaw C.C.