Bassetlaw League rule changes for 2006
by Paul Barker, 21st November 2005

There were eleven proposals for rule changes or new rules during the A.G.M. the first falling into the new category which was for rule 1.1 (ii) Each club shall be affiliated to the English and Welsh Cricket Board through a County Board and this was accepted unanimously.

No. 2 was Rule 1.2 (ii) and it was proposed that it now reads ‘The subscription from each club shall be £25.00 per team per annum to be paid not later than 31 st May in any year. Any club failing to comply with this rule shall be fined £5.00 for the first month or part of the month after this date and £20.00 for every month or part of a month thereafter that the subscription remains unpaid’.

Treasurer Peter Neale speaking on this proposition said that the last time the fees had gone up were in 1985, twenty years ago and that he didn’t like the idea of such a big increase but the league’s generosity to the clubs was probably now rebounding on them.

There was quite a heated discussion on this, but in the end the motion was carried extremely comfortably.

No. 3 was a change to Rule 1.8 (i) which reads ‘Each winning club shall be responsible for the insurance of the trophy it holds during the ensuing twelve months’. Note – Clubs will be advised of the value of each trophy for insurance purposes. This motion was carried unanimously.

No. 4 was a slight change in the wording to Rule 2.5 (iv) and was carried unanimously. The rule will now read ‘Unless a match is cancelled under this rule, the visiting team shall be responsible for the payment of teas provided for it by the home club’.

No. 5 Was a clarification of the age times for young players regarding rule 3.1 (ii) to conform to the ECB guidelines. This was also carried unanimously. The rule now reads. ‘ECB recommendations and directives with respect to young players (a) wearing helmets (b) fielding, (c) Fast Bowling, shall be implemented in full. The ECB Fast Bowling Directives are as follows and apply for the full season.

Age on 31 st August of last year - 11 or 12; Age Group(s) - U12, U13; Max. overs per spell - 4 Overs per spell; Max overs per day - 8 Overs per day. By the same ratio the guidelines are: 13 or 14; U14, U15; 5 Overs per spell; 10 overs per day. 15 or 16; U16, U17; 6 overs per spell; 18 overs per day. 17 or 18; U19; 7 overs per spell; 21 overs per day.

No. 6 was presented by the Bassetlaw & District Umpires Association who proposed that Rule 3.3 (i) be amended to read. ‘Matches shall commence at 2.00 p.m. in April to July, at 1.30 p.m. in August and at 1.00 p.m. in September [at 1.30 p.m. in April to July, at 1.00 p.m. in August and at 12.30 p.m. in September]. Clubs may, if they so desire start earlier if the mutually agree; the Umpires Appointment Secretary must be informed of such earlier start’.

The only difference to the old rule concerns the 1 st Division and is the April to July period which will now start half an hour earlier than last season. John Heaman explained for the Umpires Association that the thinking behind the rule change was simply to alleviate any problem with the light which had incurred for several seasons. He went on to say that this rule was well overdue for changing and the meeting agreed by voting in the change unanimously.

No. 7 was possibly the most contentious of the proposed rule changes and was the most hotly debated. Presenting the case, Chairman Jim Garton appealed to the floor to give it a try as it had been used in other leagues including the Nottinghamshire Premier League and proved to be successful.

The Rule was virtually a complete overhaul of Rule 3.6 and the new wording which the League hoped would be passed was to read, ‘(i) No bowler shall bowl more than 30% of the scheduled overs for the innings, as at the start of the game and rounded down to the nearest over; however when a team has closed its innings by declaration, the scheduled overs for the second innings shall be revised to be the total available’.

‘(ii) In the event of a bowler being unable to complete an over for any reason, the over in progress shall be completed by any other player except the player who bowled the previous over. Any such parts of an over shall count as a full over towards each bowler’s allocation’.

‘(iii) The captain of the fielding side in consultation with the umpire(s) and/or scorers, shall be responsible for ensuring that no bowler exceeds the quota of overs laid down by Rule 3.6 (i) or the ECB Directives for Young Fast Bowlers.

One delegate asked why was it always the bowler who had restrictions placed on him and not the batsman. A very lively debate followed before the rule was passed quite comfortably but certainly not unanimously.

No. 8 concerned 3.11 and was to do with the wearing of apparel. The Management Committee had re-worded this rule to read, ‘Except in an emergency players shall wear all white apparel decorated only with small club and/or commercial insignia, narrow piping, or traditional sweater trim. No player shall be allowed to bowl if he is not wearing such apparel’.

Once again their was a healthy debate on this topic, but once again it received enough support to carry it through to the rules for next season.

The same amendment also included the Rule 5.1 category a Recreational Player. This rule was proposed to read ‘ (iv) A player not born in the United Kingdom who has provided documentary evidence of residency in the UK for two consecutive years immediately prior to his registration, during which time absence from the UK shall not have exceeded 35 days consecutively or 70 days in total, or who as subsequently played for the club in successive seasons following residential qualification’. The current paragraph (iv) to become paragraph (v).

Once again this subject provoked quite a few comments but it once again was passed.

No. 9 was another proposal by the Bassetlaw Umpires Association who proposed that Rule 6.5 should now read. ‘Umpires in Divisions 1 and 2 shall be confidentially assessed by captains on their performance in every match. Discretionary reports may be submitted by captains in other Divisions. The discretionary report form shall be used if any club has an objection to the conduct of an umpire under rule 7.1. All reports are to be received by the Secretary of the Bassetlaw & District Umpires’ Association within five days of the match’.

Once again comments were made from the floor with one delegate saying that captain’s probably had enough on their plate without adding another burden. John Heaman pointed out that the Association were not looking at single matches but the average mark over the season to ascertain the standard of umpires. This proposition was carried reasonably comfortably.

No. 10 regarded the K.O. Competitions and was to amend Rule 2 to read. ‘Each club may enter one team. Withdrawal after the draw has been made will be treated as non-fulfilment of fixture as per League Rule 2.5 (vi)’. This rule went through easily by the club delegates.

The last proposition, No. 11 and again concerned the K.O. Cup Competitions. It read, insert the following after paragraph (ii) of Rule 7 [Match Regulations] and re-number subsequent paragraphs. ‘(iii) A time limit of 2 hours, 30 minutes shall be allowed for each side to bowl 40 overs. (iv) A variation in time of 3 minutes, 30 seconds per over shall be made if less than 40 overs are scheduled to be bowled. (v) Umpires shall make due time allowance for one drinks interval per innings, if taken and for unavoidable stoppages caused by injury or other extenuating circumstances. (vi) If after due time allowance has been made, an innings is not completed within the time limit, the remaining overs shall be bowled and the umpires shall then add 6 runs to the total of the batting side for each full over not bowled within the time limit.

After a brief discussion this was passed unanimously.

2006 will be secretary's last season | Annual Report of the Management Committee