ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRCIKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
TONGE CC
30TH JUNE 2014
Apologies: R Taylor, E Smith, Little Lever.
Clubs not represented: Astley Bridge, Kearsley
Minutes Silence-The committee stood in memory of Ray Molyneau(Umpire),Neil Taylor(Bradshaw CC) Frank Waterworth (Egerton CC)
Minutes of the April Meeting- These had been circulated and agreed to be a true and correct record.
Matters Arising- The new electronic registrations should be up and running by the end of the week, Mike Buckley would send clubs the instructions
League Cricket in Greater Manchester- A letter will be going to all leagues within the boundary of Greater Manchester outlining suggestions for a structured league. Every club would then be informed by either letter or e mail (MH to find out which format) The structure had been based on discussions with leagues, clubs and as a result of the first national survey that went out last year.
Minutes of the League Management Meeting- These had been circulated and agreed to be a true
record.
Matters Arising- Child Welfare. In one matter, the risk was being managed by the ECB. A second matter re social networking was being dealt with by the LCB and a third, was more of a disciplinary than a welfare matter. Clubs were asked to get their welfare officer to up- date their welfare spread sheets and send to Mike Buckley a.s.a.p as had only received the spread sheets from two clubs . In future the deadline would be June and not May.
Finance -. The Management Committee had received information from Chris Monks on a regular basis although Chris had been unable to attend any meetings so far. As previously reported CM would step down if necessary so it was felt the league needed to be thinking about the AGM when the treasurer is elected.
Umpires- There was a shortage of umpires and if a recruitment drive didn’t happen then in a few years there wouldn’t be any. All Captains from first and second teams were invited to attend the last umpires meeting but only 2 second team captains turned up,one club official and had one letter with comments on as that captain was unable to attend. It was extremely disappointing. It was an opportunity to discuss how the season was going and to iron out some problems over wides and player behaviour. The committee felt the responsibility for player behaviour lay with the captains and umpires must report where they can. If a captain had to be spoken to for a players misbehaviour and not worthy of a report, a club official should be notified so that the club could sort it out to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Clubs are sometimes short of a scorer and Mrs Knott asked for clubs who had people who could score to let her know so that a pool of scorers could be formed to help out on the odd occasion when necessary.
Juniors- Mike Buckley had resigned as junior league secretary and thanks were given for the tremendous work he has done over the past number of years. The league had a lot to thank him for. The chairman had called a meeting of the age group secretaries, Tracey Brooks , Bill Elkin, Derek Kay to make interim arrangements. This group of people would form a junior sub- committee under the management committee chaired by Bill Elkin. Any communications re junior matters would go to Tracey at boltonjuniorcricketleague@hotmail.com
Issues and Protests would be dealt with by the sub- committee and appeals by the R&C committee. If Bill was unavailable, then matters to be referred to Mike Hall or Derek Kay.
R&C committee- 2 clubs had been fined for having no scorer, 2 clubs had been referred to the R&C because of failure to send in umpires marks. They had been fined accordingly and threatened with points deductions. Matter was now solved. Most of the dealings were with junior matters. 4 clubs were missing a team from an age group and would have points deducted from the first team , if under our present rules, they failed to turn out a team in that age group , next year. 44 junior matches had been conceded, of which 19 letters had been sent to clubs outside those 4 mentioned above.
Two clubs had played a friendly, hence match was void, no replay and fined.
There were still two junior matters on the table and one senior one.
Ground Report – Derek Kay said he would e mail all clubs the report. All clubs had been visited at least once. There were two trends showing up :- Boundaries and umpires accommodation. Clubs were asked to mark boundaries with flags , which made it easier for umpires to see from the middle. Umpires accommodation was a problem for some clubs with no room other than a “ broom cupboard.” The minimum standard was table, 2 chairs , coat hooks and somewhere for tea and coffee if wanted. He stressed it was the intention of the ground committee to improve standards and facilities.
Tonge would be hosting the Hamer cup final this year and he would be meeting with Paul Schofield to discuss arrangements.
A query arose over the scoreboard at Kearsley. It shows first innings score and not runs to win. A match there on Sunday was declared a tie with both teams on 199, but was the score runs to win or a first innings score. The scorebooks would need to be looked at. it is possible to have a tie in our league.
Disciplinary- A Walkden player had received a one match ban for verbal abuse of an umpire, with 4 matches suspended and told to attend an umpires course for players and managers.
A little lever play had received a one match ban for abuse of cricket equipment. There were 5 incidents reported of which 3 were junior matters to be dealt with. Paul Schofield would be replacing Dave Barlow on the disciplinary committee and would also be Tonge’s representative on the league committee.
Interleague: FSC were congratulated for the facilities/hospitality offered to everyone. Unfortunately we were beaten by a stronger team on the day . Derek Kay said he would continue as team manager unless any -one else came forward.
Senior/Junior Presentations. Clubs were asked to give this some thought and if any club felt they could stage either then let Ray Taylor know. The senior presentation in previous years was ear marked for the second Friday in November, but much depended on availability.
Junior Inter league: The U18S beat the Lancs County League and now play the Ribblesdale league at Kearsley on July 13th. If successful the next round will be played on August 3rd away to the North Lancs league .Coach transport will be available for spectators to travel with the team. The league had pulled out of the u12 and u14 interleague as had no one to manage the teams.
Cricket Balls: There had been only two reports of poor cricket balls with the quarter seam coming apart , after not too many overs but in general everyone was happy with them.
Play Cricket: Tracey Brooks reported there were 71 outstanding results, 13 of them were senior cricket results. This was completely unacceptable and the matter would be dealt with by the management committee. Second team tables could not be published as were incomplete.
Proposals: Mike Hall outlined the BCL development plan which all clubs had received. It was a discussion document. Clubs were asked to let their comments be known by the end of July. A management committee official would attend club meetings if asked.
Date of next meeting and prize claim meeting would be Monday 29th September 2014.( Remember play cricket figures will be used for claims.)