As a mark of respect to HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, we ask all Two Counties Championship clubs to observe two minutes silence at 3pm on Saturday April 17th.   We do ask that clubs respect this as all clubs throughout the country are being asked to do so at this designated time. This is in memory not just of the man and his public service over seventy years but his contribution to our beloved game first as a player and more importantly as a supporter and an administrator in the game over many years.  

A decision has been made to publish relevant details on this site in order to save the considerable cost of producing the Handbook.  This was taken in the light of the fact that most will have access to a smart phone or tablet.

The following have been added to the menus at the top of the News Page:

On the Member Club tab……………………….  Click on the + against the club to access all contact details

On the Umpires Panel tab ……………………..   A list of current umpires

On the More tab ……………………………………..  A list of the MSC and their details.  The Schedule of Standards is also on the tab (but clearly the current Covid regulations will affect this.)

On the Rules tab ……………………………………… A list of relevant rules including playing conditions.  Major changes to the rules are clearly marked in bold italics.

Also if any of the club information changes, then please inform Rick Jones as soon as possible so that the website can remain up-to-date.

 

Sudbury 4th XI are looking for a handful of friendly matches on Saturdays or Sundays.

Very much a team that includes youth and experience so not a very strong side but very friendly good social cricket.
We can look at home and away options. We have a slot we are trying to fill at Sudbury, Friars Street on Sunday June 6th
If any clubs have gaps and looking for a Saturday or Sunday option we can look into it.

Please contact the Sudbury CC 4th team captain Paul Edwards on
07771575374 or email sudburyccsecretary@hotmail.co.uk

Just to reinforce ……it is the intention of the Two Counties Championship to start our season on Saturday 17^th April with a full fixture list as published.

However we have heard recently that the DCMS have clarified with the DFT that car sharing is not permitted until Step 3 which is due to be implemented on May 17^th.

“Car sharing is not permitted with someone from outside your household or your support bubble unless your journey is undertaken for an exempt reason. Sport and physical activity is not an exempt reason, so you cannot car share for sport and physical activity”.

This of course has implications for the first 5 weeks of the season.  But as the vast majority are very keen to play a full season of competitive cricket this year, we are hoping that clubs will still find a way to fulfil these fixtures.  We emphasise however that no club should feel any pressure to travel if they do not think it feasible to so do.  Therefore:

• The average system as outlined in an earlier post will now apply for the season, starting on April 17^th.
• Promotion and relegation will still apply until we exceed the “66% rule” as posted earlier.  The “66% rule” will obviously apply to the current travel restrictions as they are covid related.
• The MSC will not impose financial penalties for these weeks should it not be possible for the away team to travel, as long as the home team is informed by 8pm on Thursday.  If notice is not given by this time, Clubs are reminded that the MSC can impose a fine of £10 against the offending club
  
• Cancellations must be confirmed and the umpires informed by Thursday 8pm at the latest.  The Secretary and Fixture Secretary must also be advised.
• In the event of a cancellation (for this 5 week period only) should both sides be in agreement we will allow a match to be re-arranged and played on an alternative day – including Bank Holiday Mondays or Sundays. Should re-arrangement be possible then the Home club must advise both the Secretary and Fixtures Secretary.

Whilst we are fully aware that the above is open to abuse you are reminded that the MSC are empowered under the rules to act where abuse is seen.  However in the exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is to be hoped that this will not happen.

 

With the issue of travel seemingly on the back burner,  we seem ready to go…….

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/2072091/crickets-return-to-play-roadmap-for-england-and-guidance-for-wales

 

In the event of a full season not being possible due to the re-imposition of Covid regulations. The following changes will be made to the structure of the League tables.

We shall revert to an average points based system, as we used up until the start of the 2012 season. For those that will not have played under these conditions before, we should explain that only completed matches will be used in the calculations of the average points. Cancelled, and abandoned matches will simply be void, and the points removed.

In the event of the season having to be curtailed without 66% of the weeks having been successfully completed, then promotion and relegation will not be imposed, however, the trophies for the divisions shall still be awarded.

It is with regret to state that Halstead Cricket Club are in the unfortunate situation of being unable to field a league side in Division Nine Group 2.

With the structure of our third team, the travel requirements of the league, combined with the effects of the pandemic, we will not be in a position to fulfil the league fixtures.

We would like to apologise to the league sides affected.

We have not disbanded our third eleven and will build for the future by playing local friendly cricket to introduce our youth to longer format of the game. Our intention is to come back to league cricket when we are in a stronger position.

David Brooker (Chairman),  Halstead Cricket Club

 

Following hard on the heels of the withdrawal of Ipswich 3rd XI, Halstead Cricket Club have now, officially, informed the League that they are withdrawing their 3rd XI from Division Nine Group 2.

This will leave this division as an eight team division whilst Group 1 will have ten teams, but too late in the day to switch one team across the sections.

A letter from David Brooker, Halstead Chairman is posted above ……

The ECB published this roadmap, on Friday 19th March 2021, for the return of cricket.  Click on the link below.

ECB_COVID_Roadmap_V4 (emlfiles4.com)

I have taken on the role of Suffolk County Cricket Officer which was previously held by Andy Broome. I would like to thank Andy for all of the work he carried out on behalf of the counties scorers.
I am starting from the beginning and therefore would like all clubs to contact me with a list of their scorers, any qualifications they have and are they members of Suffolk Association of Cricket Officials or the ECB Association of Cricket Officials. I will then go through the list and see if they would like to develop their skills further with courses and to join the associations too. A further development is to get new scorers and young scores involved in the game. The pathway to introduce new people to scoring is Basics of Scoring Course, this is an online course through the ECB Portal. Link to Basics of scoring https://booking.ecb.co.uk/d/pjq1gj There will be a course for Young Cricket Officials titled “An Introduction to Officiating” this will cover both Scoring and Umpiring and aimed at 14 to 16 year olds. The County Cricket Board will be running this course upon its release later in the year.
Some courses carry a fee, would clubs be prepared to pay for the courses as Club Development or do they feel it is up to the individual to pay out of their own pocket?
If you already have a competent scorer who would like to develop their skills there are Club Scorer qualifications Level 1 and Level 2. These are in the process of being put online and pilots are about to begin so we will have to wait and see how they are progressing.
My plan is to take all the course’s myself and see how they work, that way I can determine who needs to do what to progress.
Another nutty topic is paying scorers expenses. I would appreciate it if clubs can divulge who pay expenses to their scorers or if they offer and the scorer declines any form of remuneration. There is quite a disparity between umpires and scorers, at higher levels in the leagues and county junior/senior matches where the game cannot take place without either. All information will remain confidential unless I am told otherwise.
I’m looking forward to visiting as many clubs as I can while scoring this season and will always be happy to chat to anyone within your club who is interested in scoring or developing what they already know.

Regards Kathy Parker
e: grangefarm@btinternet.com t: 07740780460

To the Two Counties Cricket Championship Committee and Fellow Clubs

It is with great sorrow that we report that Ipswich Cricket Club find themselves in the position of not being able to fulfil our commitment to provide three teams in the league for the coming season. As you may know we have been grateful to use the opportunity in the past to use loan players to enable us to ‘Get the Game On’, and wish to thank both the committee and fellow clubs for that. The problem we face now is that most of our front-line batsmen and bowlers from the last full season are no longer available to the club or have indicated very irregular availability. Of the players who have indicated their availability for the coming season, only a couple could play first team at the standard required on a weekly basis, as a result the majority of the side would be drawn from our second or third teams, resulting in a knock-on effect to those sides. If players were forced to play at an inappropriate standard, as well as being a source of concern about their welfare there would be a possibility that we could lose these players to cricket altogether.

We have therefore asked the MSC to withdraw our side from Division Two, but continue to provide sides to Divisions Five and Eight.  They have agreed to this request

We would like to apologise to the league and also to the other sides in Division Two who will now have a vacant week. It is not a position we want to be in but believe it is a better solution for cricket as a whole.

Dougie Fairbanks

Chairman

Ipswich Cricket Club

Following yesterday’s Committee meeting I would like to confirm with you all that cricket is still waiting for formal advice from the ECB to give us guidance as to the way forward in terms of procedure for facilities and numbers of people at any one venue (plus a lot more do’s and dont’s).  Once these are in place we will share them with you as soon as we are able.

Currently we are aware, that given the guidelines set out in the government roadmap we should be able to commence the league programme as planned, but we can’t say more than that at present.

Geoff Eveling   Chairman – Two Counties Championship.