ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
AT TONGE C.C.
27th OCTOBER 2014
Apologies: Mike Buckley. David Heap stood in for Eric Smith on behalf of the Umpires.
Peter Stafford: There will be a formal minutes silence at the next General Committee meeting.
Lancashire Cricket Board: Mike Hall welcomed Bobby Denning and Paul Bryson to the meeting. Mr Denning thanked the League for their action regarding offensive tweets from players of a member club. Mr Denning continued that the LCB are continuing to engage with leagues, and developments are taking place with the proposals for a Greater Manchester league structure. Mr Bryson distributed a document entitled “The Cricket Market is in Decline” containing amongst other information details of the National Playing Survey. Mike Hall said the findings had already been discussed by the Management Committee and some proposals would be based on them. Mike said that although the player satisfaction rating for the Bolton League was the joint highest in the County progress and improvements still have to be made. Mr Bryson said he would email the statistics for the Bolton League to Ray Taylor for distribution to the Management Committee. The Greater Manchester leagues workshop will take place at Old Trafford on 8th November.
Minutes of the September General Committee Meeting: These had been circulated and were approved as a correct record.
Matters Arising: The Junior Presentation is at Little Lever C.C. on 13th November. Clubs should send player lists for their trophy winning teams to Tracey Brooks. The Senior Presentation is at Farnworth C.C. on 14th November and clubs should let Derek Kay have their ticket numbers by the end of this week. Clubs will be charged for a minimum of 4 tickets.
The Committee assumed that there are no outstanding missing Play-Cricket scorecards.
Correspondence: The ECB are organising an Under 19 20/20 competition. The Secretary has expressed interest on behalf of the League, but clubs will be asked to do this individually without any commitment to playing in the competition.
There have been break- ins at cricket clubs in Greater Manchester including one locally.
Details of LCB Welfare Courses have been sent to clubs.
The LCB Groundsmans Update ‘October Optimism’ has been sent to clubs.
Inter League: Senior draw – 7th June Central Lancashire League v Bolton League, 12th July away to Saddleworth League or Liverpool Competition, 9th August away in the final. The Colts are in the same group as the Lancashire County League, Saddleworth League and Central Lancashire League. Umpires’ expenses are £35 plus 25p per mile, and they must have their own insurance.
John Hutchinson and Richard Dearden are the U18 managers, Gary Garner the U14 and Gareth Williams and Dave Fairbrother the U12.
Finance: Thwaites are happy to continue the sponsorship of the Hamer Cup. Mike Hall will discuss the detailed arrangements with Martin Hodgkiss.
Umpires: We have three new Level 1 umpires.
Eric Smith will be standing down as Umpires Fixture Secretary.
The next course will be on 13th January.
Amendments to Rules: These will be issued to clubs separately. There is a proposal that the Under 13s play pairs cricket. The Secretary suggested that if there was a close split in the clubs’ vote both disciplines could be played on a home and away basis.
Juniors: John Hutchinson put forward detailed proposals for a 2014/15 Residential Course including costings. The Committee are supportive of the idea.
Date of General Committee Meeting – to be announced.
Date of AGM – to be announced.