ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
BRADSHAW C.C.
20t AUGUST 2012
Apologies: Mike Buckley, Chris Monks, Eric Smith and Kearsley C.C. Heaton were not represented.
Minute’s Silence: The Committee stood in memory of Eric Shaw, Heaton C.C.
Play-Cricket: Chris Higginbottom from the ECB gave a presentation and answered questions about play-cricket and forms of electronic scoring. Chris can be contacted at http://www.play-cricket.com/contactus/writeemail.asp?email=1.
Minutes of the July Meeting: The minutes had been circulated and were approved as a true record.
Matters Arising: The list of ‘starred’ players will be circulated when Walkden’s entry is complete.
The Chairman congratulated the victorious inter-league team on their comprehensive final victory against the Ribblesdale League.
Correspondence: The Secretary read a message from Horwich C.C. thanking the League for their financial assistance with the Under 13 national finals at Oakham. The team had finished in third place.
Finance: There had been an inaugural meeting of Frank Hinks, Derek Kay and David Morris. Chris Monks and Dave Tattersall were unavailable due to the continuation of the Hamer Cup.
Additional sponsorship is being sought for the partly for the benefit of the League, but more specifically for the clubs. The committee are looking for sponsorship of the League Championship, Hamer Cup and a new cup competition which will replace the National KO and lead to reduced participation in the Lancs KO. Some of the funds will be available to assist clubs in temporary financial difficulty on a loan basis and other funds for development. There will also be a monetary prize for the League Champions and at each stage of the Hamer Cup. Sponsorship of second team and junior cricket will come later. The sponsored competitions will not be known by the sponsor’s name, but will be included beneath the competition title.
Mr Hinks has discussed the proposals with Martin Axford.
The Chairman suggested the committee’s remit was only sponsorship, not the formation of a new competition.
Around half the clubs have now responded to the questionnaire which could lead to further discussions.
Umpires: Matches for the remainder of the season will begin at 12.30pm.
A letter has been sent to all clubs saying clubs and umpires must accept the appointments made by the Umpires’ Secretary.
Farnworth have been asked t o look into a scorebook error in a second team match, and it was pointed out than on occasions there are too many in the Greenmount scorebox.
In recent weeks there has been a shortage of umpires and the Chairman said the League would continue to support the umpires in a recruitment drive. Derek Kay said the standard of umpiring has improved this season.
Various ideas were put forward to alleviate the problem including clubs having an umpire ‘on-call’ each week, possibly to be paid £10, however no agreement was reached on whether a casual umpire who had not attended a course would be allowed to stand at one end.
David Morris made the point that there was an objection to unqualified umpires, but no-one seemed to mind if clubs had unqualified groundsmen.
Juniors: John Hutchinson covered the proposed rule amendments, in particular those affecting Under 18s. There appeared to be a preference for playing the longer form of the game in one day rather than two evenings.
Mr Hutchinson asked the Chairman if he could speak to Andy Hayhurst about the quality and quantity of cricket some of the better teenagers were playing.
The Under 18 inter league team will play the Central Lancashire League in the final at Clifton C.C. 1.30pm Monday 27th August.
The Secretary reminded clubs that it is acceptable for a junior team with a weak side to concede a match, but avoid a penalty by playing a friendly fixture against their opponents. This was last raised in June 2011.
R&C Report: Farnworth S.C. have signed Jacques Du Toit for the remainder of the season.
Mr Merry reported that former Horwich player Callum Kay has signed for Didsbury. Enquiries are being made with Bolton Cricket club about the status of a young Farnworth S.C. player.
Little Lever and Westhoughton will play off later this week for a Sykes Cup Final place after there were problems with an Under 18 match being called off, and not played as a 20 over match on the second evening.
The R&C Committee felt they could not deal with a request to reschedule the Under 15 Cup Final.
None first class players can be signed without reference to the League Committee provided players qualify as follows;
“ 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.”
Discipline: There had been a procedural error in the reporting of an Eagley second team player; however Malcolm Venn passed on the player’s apologies to the Committee and said his club had cautioned the player.
Warnings have been sent by the Disciplinary Committee to two Tonge second team players.
Birtwistle Cup: Farnworth S.C. offered to stage future finals, but the Committee agreed to continue with the toss of a coin between the finalists.
League Dinner: David Morris will have an update at the September meeting.
Date of Next Meeting: 24th September at Tonge C.C.
Prize Claim Meeting: 8th October at Tonge C.C.