Minutes of the umpires/ captains meeting held at Farnworth Social Circle on April 18th 2013

 All clubs were eventually represented by at least one person with the last arrivals being at 8.10pm.

There was no club official from Horwich(apology given) Little Lever , Eagley and Westhoughton, with no first team rep from Little lever

The Umpires Association Chairman, Alan Greenhalgh welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the topics being discussed.

He reinforced, the pre-match duties umpires and captains should carry out, e.g. agree boundaries, sawdust, exchange team sheets correctly filled in, drinks intervals and discuss what umpires will do in case of rain. The toss should be made on the field of play with at least one umpire present and the winning captain to inform umpires of their decision immediately.

Clubs were asked to make sure the chain or tape was available for umpires to check measurements on the first match of the season.

Discipline: Mr Hutchinson said there had been an improvement on last year. He reminded captains it was their responsibility for player behaviour and appealed to both captains and players to behave in the appropriate manner. The Disciplinary committee goes out of its way to be fair to everyone. Personal hearings can be organised if players so wish. The umpires association have been asked to report all incidents of poor behaviour. If a player who has been suspended and appears on the team sheet , the captain will be asked to remove the player before the game starts. Umpires will be informed of suspended players.

Umpires marks: -Mr Kinder stressed the importance of all clubs sending in the reports. It helped us monitor new umpires and provided help in solving problems The standard of umpiring had improved but it had to be built on and reports from captains helped us do this. This year clubs had a new window of opportunity to get the marks in, 14 days before a fine of £10 is issued.  In reply to what happens to the reports, members present were told they go to Malcolm in the first instance, then on to the secretary who acknowledges the report by replying to the captain. If there appears to be a consistent problem that umpire is spoken to , but the umpire will not know  from which clubs the reports have come from.  At the end of the season all captains marks are sent to the ECB at Lords for further grading as this determines which umpires in our association can progress to matches outside our league.eg National KO, county age group appointments and Lancs KO.

New Bolton League rules: Mrs Knott said the main new rule was that clubs had 7 minutes to remove the covers when instructed to by the umpires. Failure to do so after a warning, will lead to conceding the match if the umpires consider it wilful. This brought some discussion and a query was raised re taking long to get the covers on. It was hoped teams would be fair and if it was unusually slow the team could be reported.

We would not be adopting the New law coming into play re knocking the stumps over by the bowler in his delivery stride. There would be no call of dead ball or no ball. Play will carry on as usual.

Practice will now be allowed between innings provided it is not on the square etc. once the umpires call play no practice can take place until time is called, ie at the end of the innings.

There will be no power play in Birtwistle cup matches,

In a continued evening match, if a batsman who was at the crease arrives late he will continue his innings at the fall of the next wicket or retirement of a batsman. If a bowler is late , he will be able to bowl straight away.

Something that has not been in the handbook but has been in operation  by the R&C committee for the last three years is, there will be a fine of £20  for a team having no first team scorer and £15 for no second team scorer.

The league Chairman then spoke on his views of the BCL and the need to look for a strategy for the league. He hoped ideas would come from the 14clubs. The ECB had put out a national club strategy and he saw many similarities to the BCL eg struggling to retain players, keeping juniors interested especially 15 to 18 year olds and  how to improve facilities etc.

 He asked that the umpires be made welcome at all grounds and players respected their decisions.

Mr Greenhalgh then asked for any questions. The main point of concern was the 7 minutes for covers. He then wished everyone a successful season, with plenty of sunshine.

Meeting closed at 8.30pm.