Marston S Pedigreederbyshirecounty Cricket League

MARSTON’S PEDIGREEDERBYSHIRECOUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE

Chairman: Mark Hallows, 16 Heanor Road, Denby VillageDE5 8PN 01773 743919

Secretary: John Wallis, 5 Royal Mews, Station Road, Ashby LE65 2GJ01530 417187

Treasurer: JC Smith, 14 Stewart Close, Spondon DE21 7FB01332 738736

Umpires’ Secretary: Jon Salisbury, 148 Coppice Road, Arnold,0115 9674997

Nottingham NG5 7GZ

Match Secretary: Chris Higginbottom, 5 Pinewood Road, Belper,01773 826901

DE56 2TS

To all member clubs and EC MembersOctober 2010

Notice of Rules Revision Meeting

Dear Colleague,

The Annual Rules Revision Meeting of the Derbyshire County Cricket League will take place on Wednesday November 17th 2010, in the Jackson & Gladwin suite at the Lund Pavilion, County Ground, Derby, starting at 7.30 p.m.

All clubs must attend as required by Rule B2:3; non attendance will result in an automatic fine of £20. The attention of all clubs is drawn to Rule B2:5.

Please note that a roll call may under League Rules be taken at any time during the meeting.

AGENDA

Apologies
Chairman’s Remarks
Presentation of outstanding League trophies and medals
Presentation of Grade A and Grade B Ground Certificates
Rule changes proposed by the Derbyshire County Cricket League Executive Committee:

(A2)The Executive Committee

2:3 The EC shall, at the Committee meeting following the Annual General Meeting, appoint a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Disciplinary Secretary from within the elected members. The Chairman shall preside at all meetings; in his absence at any meeting, authority shall pass to the Vice-Chairman, and in his absence the EC shall elect, by a simple majority, a voting member to act in their stead.

2:3:1The Disciplinary Secretary shall be responsible for all aspects of the disciplinary process

(A3)EC Sub Committees and Disciplinary Appeals Panel

3:4The EC will establish an independent Disciplinary Appeals Panel on which no member of the EC will serve, although the Disciplinary Secretary will act as the non-voting secretary to the Panel

This change is intended to lighten the load of the Secretary, by separating the administration of the disciplinary process from his duties, and making them the responsibility of one of the elected members. Disciplinary Secretary would be substituted for League Secretary throughout Rule J5.

(A3)EC Sub Committees and Disciplinary Appeals Panel

3:3The EC shall have the power to co-opt non-EC members on to any sub-committee; such co-opted members will have voting rights on the relevant sub-committee only

Clarifies the position of co-opted members of sub-committees with regard to voting.

(B3) Fixtures

3:8NATIONAL COMPETITIONS

3:8:1Clubs shall be entitled to initiate the rearrangement of Sunday League or Cup fixtures for their first teams, in order for them to compete in recognised national club competitions at or beyond the last 16 of the National stage.

This change would allow more flexibility for clubs entering National competitions. There have been instances in the recent past where clubs have found themselves wishing to re-arrange either a DCCL Cup game or a game in a National competition against a DCCL club, but have been unable to as neither was willing to budge, knowing that this would place their opponents in a no-win situation of having to forfeit one or other of the games. This is not acceptable behaviour on the part of those clubs, and this change is intended to prevent or at least diminish the likelihood of it happening.

(B5)Umpires

5:1 Umpires will be allocated by the League and will be paid expenses of £32.00 each (£37.00 in Division 1 and the senior Cup competition) on the day of the match.

5:3 Where only one umpire is in attendance and takes both ends, expenses will be £48.00 (£55.00 in Division 1 and the senior Cup competition).

(B6)Scorers

6:2A competent scorer is considered to be a person who

Has basic knowledge of the Laws of Cricket

Has basic knowledge of scoring procedures

Has knowledge of umpires’ signals and is able to communicate appropriately with umpires

Is able to identify all individual players of the team for which they are scoring

Scorers should sit side by side, so that proper communication and checking can be maintained, and clubs should ensure that distractions such as players or third parties not relevant to the scoring of the game are not allowed.

This should be self-evident, but it seems that it is necessary to make this clear as there have been instances where problems have been caused by scorers sitting separately and by extraneous distractions to the scorers.

(B7)Results notification

7:9Failure to fulfil the above rule will result in a Level 1 fine. If the result is not received within seven and a half hours, then any fine applicable will be doubled. If the result is not received within 8 hours, then an additional Level 2 fine will be imposed

Clubs are well aware of the deadline for notification. The officers are proactive in attempting to get missing results, but there are clubs who make their lives very difficult and who simply disappear off the radar after the game. We feel that such clubs should pay a significantly higher penalty.

(C2)Promotion and Relegation

2:9The lowest team of any club forfeiting more than two League and Cup matches during a season shall be subject to re-election by the EC at the Complement of League meeting. Repeated forfeits over a season and from one season to the next will be taken into consideration as part of the re-election process, and are also likely to result in disciplinary action.

(C4)Points System

4:8Forfeit or conceded fixture: 27 points to the team able to play the fixture; 10 points deducted from the team forfeiting or conceding the fixture...

The decision to forfeit a game currently has no impact on the club that forfeits. It is felt that this is unjust, and that therefore a points penalty should be imposed as well as a fine.

(C4)Points System

4:8...In the event of any team forfeiting or conceding two or more League matches, five league points will be deducted from each of that club’s teams in membership of the Derbyshire County League for the second and each subsequent forfeit.

The number of clubs forfeiting games, and the number of forfeits in general, has reached an unacceptable level, and it is clear that there are clubs running teams when they simply do not have sufficient players to do so. The EC regards this as a problem caused by the club as a whole, not just that particular team, and this change lowers the threshold at which the other teams in the club would incur a penalty for the forfeit of games.

(D1) Fixtures

1:2Fine for non-fulfilment of each fixture to be as follows, unless the EC accepts extenuating circumstances preventing the match being played, plus normal travelling expenses to the visitors and umpires if the home club is at fault.

Divisions 9 & 10 - £20 for 1st forfeit increasing by £5 for each subsequent forfeit

Divisions 7 & 8 - £30 for 1st forfeit increasing by £10 for each subsequent forfeit

Divisions 5 & 6 - £50 for 1st forfeit increasing by £25 for each subsequent forfeit

Divisions 1 to 4 - £100 for 1st forfeit increasing by £50 for each subsequent forfeit

The forfeit of games at higher levels of the league is unacceptable, and the EC feels any club doing so should incur a significantly higher financial penalty than for games at lower levels. This sliding scale is intended to reflect that view.

(D2)Start times

Proposal 1

Month / Division 1 & Senior Cup competition / Other divisions & Cups
April / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
May / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
June / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
July / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
August / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
September / 12.30pm / 1.00pm

Proposal 2

Month / Division 1 & Senior Cup competition / Other divisions & Cups
April / 12.30pm / 1.00pm
May / 1.00pm / 1.30pm
June / 1.00pm / 1.30pm
July / 1.00pm / 1.30pm
August / 1.00pm / 1.30pm
September / 12.30pm / 1.00pm

It has become clear that there are issues around the end time of games at the start and end of the season, particularly with regard to light; it is also clear that the earlier start times in April, May, August and September currently do not cause problems of player availability due to work commitments. The EC also wishes to avoid conflict between clubs and umpires due to the change in the Laws of Cricket which now mean that the umpires are the sole arbiters of playing conditions. We are therefore proposing two possible changes; the first proposal addresses the issue by making a single start time for all games in each of the two formats of the game (100 and 92 overs), which would also address the initial issue regarding light. The second proposal would bring forward start times in June and July to match those in May and August, giving a simpler set of start times and addressing the light issue. If the initial proposal is approved, then the second will be withdrawn.

(F1)Registration

1:3:7A club may cancel the registration of any of their players at any time. This must be effected via the official registration form. The club must immediately cancel the registration of any player leaving to join a club in another league.

Clubs have become very lazy with regard to the removal of players from their lists, especially when they know that the player has left to join a club in another league or has left the game completely. This can cause problems when such a player suddenly re-appears and is selected while registered elsewhere. While we have a process in place with most other local leagues whereby we notify each other of any players moving between leagues, it is not possible to cover all eventualities, and the EC feels that the onus should be on the clubs to notify us of players no longer active in our league.

(F2)Movement of Players

2:1:6No player having left a Derbyshire County League club to join a club outside the league shall be allowed to re-join that club within four weeks of leaving.

This change is intended to prevent the situation where a club has no game on a given weekend, and so a player ‘joins’ a club in another league for a week, and then rejoins his old club the following week. This is clearly against the spirit of Rule F2, and by placing this limit on such moves that practice should be stamped out.

Section H – Fees, Deposits and Fixed Penalty Levels

1:1 The Annual subscriptions to be paid by each club are as follows:

Division 1£39

Division 2 £36

Division 3 £33

Division 4 £30

Division 5 £27

Division 6 £24

Division 7 £21

Division 8 and below£18

These are small increases in line with increased League operating costs; medals, postage, meetings etc.

Section H – Fees, Deposits and Fixed Penalty Levels

1:4Club Accounts will be rendered to the 30th September and will be forwarded to clubs during October, to include the following year’s subscription and DCB subscription.

1:5If the account is not paid by the second Friday in November each year, the offending club will incur an automatic Level 2 fine, and will forfeit all voting rights at any General Meeting until so paid.

These are increases in the timescale to allow for the extra work now necessary at the end of the season, and the later finish to the season.

(J1) Electronic Communications

1:1These guidelines shall apply to all electronic communication by the League and its clubs, and breach of these guidelines may result in disciplinary action under Rule J4.

When posting material to official club websitesor on social networking sites or forums, either by a club or an individual member of a club, the over-riding principle should be ‘do not put anything about another club or individual that you would not wish to see written about yourself or your own club’.

The electronic landscape has changed considerably since the electronic mail guidelines were introduced, and these amendments are proposed in order to reflect those changes. Clubs and their players should not use electronic media in a way that is insulting or disrespectful to other clubs and their members, and these changes make this a disciplinary offence. They are to be voted on separately.

(J3) DCCL Code of Conduct

3:5Clubs, nor anyone connected with a club, should not make any attempt to approach players of other clubs without first approaching the appropriate club executive.

It is proposed to delete this rule and renumber subsequent rules. It is quite clear that in the main most clubs and officials do not comply with this requirement and action is not taken against offenders as no reports are received. It is impossible to police and therefore not worth keeping.

(J3) DCCL Code of Conduct

3:6Clubs should aim to select players for all teams on merit. It is not within the spirit of the league to artificially strengthen or weaken teams to achieve promotion, avoid relegation, or gain other advantage. For the avoidance of any doubt, this includes the movement of players into a club’s lower teams when one or more of their higher team’s scheduled fixtures on the same day is cancelled or abandoned.

This clarifies the position regarding this practice; it is clearly unacceptable, and although it should not need to be spelled out the EC feels it has become necessary.

(J4)Discipline

4:2:1Where an umpire decides that the Code of Conduct has been broken, or an act of unfair play has taken place, but does not consider the matter serious enough to warrant a full disciplinary hearing under Rule J5:1, he should follow the procedure below:

a. Issue an informal warning to the player, and inform the player’s captain.

b. Should the informal warning prove ineffective, issue a formal warning to the player and inform the player’s captain and the other umpire that a formal warning has been issued. The formal warning should be recorded on the result sheet, giving the player’s name and the offence committed, and signed by the umpire and the player’s captain.

In more serious cases, but where the misconduct is still considered to be minor, the umpire has the authority to issue a formal warning without having previously issued an informal warning.

In addition, each formal warning issued will incur a penalty of one point from that team’s league total.

The increase in the number of disciplinary cases is of some concern to the EC. Of equal concern are the amount of ‘low-level’ indiscipline, and the apparent lack of concern of clubs regarding this. It is felt that as well as the potential penalty that the player might incur for repeated minor misdemeanours, the club should incur a penalty for the indiscipline of their player. This will hopefully focus their attentions on the general behaviour of their players.

4:2:6Any formal warnings issued in the Premier League will apply in any of the calculations above.

This has always been ‘custom and practice’ anyway, but this change clarifies that. The reciprocal clause will be added to Premier League rules.

(J5) Policy and Procedure for handling discipline

2.3 Actions likely to receive at least a deduction of match points, and/or fine, and/or expulsion from the league or cup competitions and/or other appropriate penalty:

Continuance of reprimandable actions or Category 2.2 penalties

Very serious breaches of Codes of Conduct, Guidelines or Rules

Persistent failure to fulfil scheduled fixtures

The above, detailed in categories 2.1 to 2.3 are not exhaustive.

The Hearing Committee may also impose a charge on the club commensurate with any costs incurred in the staging of the meeting and any subsequent appeal.

The costs of staging a disciplinary or appeal hearing are not inconsiderable, and the EC feels that it is not unreasonable that any club found guilty as part of that process should bear the brunt of those costs.

Proposals from the League EC for experimental playing conditions for the Marstons Smooth Trophy for a trial period of 2 years:

E2)Rule Variations from League Matches

2:13The following conditions shall apply to the Senior Cup Competition for an experimental period of two seasons

2:13:1 Duration

All matches will consist of one innings per side, and each innings will be limited to 50 six-ball overs. A minimum of 20 overs per team will constitute a match (subject to theprovisions of 2:13:8.1 below).

The fielding side shall complete its 50 overs in 3 hours (See 2:13:3d below)

2:13:2 Hours of Play, Intervals and Minimum Oversin the Day