Just to quickly run through the main points from the AGM of the League held on Wednesday 10th October. An update on the health of the Chairman, Norman Atkins, was given by Acting Chairman, Rick Jones. There was also a period of reflection in memory of our President, Geoff Newman, who passed away in September, and whose funeral was on the day following the AGM. A further plea was made for someone to come forward to take on the role of League Secretary, with Alan Rogers reverting to his role as Assistant Secretary. The new Secretary, as and when we have one, will have Alan guiding him or her along the way for about a year. A new role is also being created on the Management Sub-Committee for a Ladies Representative, whom shall be elected at the Ladies AGM. Various reports followed from Committee members, and the straw polls about some of the suggestions put forward was also taken, and those will be considered at the next Committee meeting, along with a few other rule changes brought about by the changes to Play-Cricket, and to the use of Loan Players. The constitution of the League for next season, will also be finalised. Two of the three clubs that requested re-admission after numerous concessions deemed it necessary, were re-elected. Those being Halstead III, and Ipswich & East Suffolk II. Kelvedon & Feering II did not re-apply. Four additional teams will join Division NIne; Melton St. Audrys II; Mildenhall V; Stowupland II; and, Woodbridge II. BT Waldringfield were elected to the League, but will probably have to play some of their home matches on other grounds, as their facilities are not up to the standard felt adequate. The Committee will also have now to regionalise Divisions Eight and NIne, both into two sections. In addition to the three teams promoted from Division Nine by right; Woodbridge, Eight Ash Green II, and Lakenheath II, the ten clubs that finished the Division Nine seasons with the most points will be added to Division Eight. The remaining 19 teams will then form the two Division Nines. It was also reported that the Ladies 35 over Championship will now fall under the auspicies of the East Anglian Premier League, but the T20s will remain in the Two Counties Championship.

Since August 1st, and the registration deadline, I have had numerous “new registration requests” which are not actually new at all, and need not be submitted. I am referring to players who are listed now as “Inactive”, which can be for one of many reasons, but they remain players registered to your club. They only need to be re-activated. This is easily done by the club admins. What they need to do is, (1) go to their list of Members (2) change the filter to Inactive, and those players appear. Then check the box and hit Reactivate. Simples, job done, no further action required, the player will now re-appear in the All Players list for your club.

Clubs are reminded that they have a duty of care towards all young players under the age of 18 and particularly under the age of 13 …… Exactly what this means and the ECB guidelines for young cricketers can be found in detail on page 22 of the 2019 Handbook and you are asked to make sure that club officials read this and comply in all respects. Parental consent will be requested automatically by the ECB and then the MSC will obtain from the relevant County Board the playing capabilities of all young cricketers.

As you are all aware all players are required to be registered on play-cricket before they play in the Championship. Occasionally with senior players the MSC have relaxed this requirement in the interests of getting 11 players on the field to “get the game on” and have permitted registration to take place after the event and within the same time frame as the requirement to post the full scorecard on play-cricket.

It should be emphasised that young cricketers below school year 8 shall not be permitted to play or young cricketers in School Year 7 who are not members of a County Squad are permitted to play in the championship. Clearance from the ECB via play-cricket registration and the County Board Coaches MUST take place before an  young cricketer in School year 7 plays in open age cricket. There are possible legal liabilities and insurance implications if such a young cricketer is subsequently injured and we have to point out that the League will not accept any responsibility should a club choose to play an under age or unregistered player without the league knowledge.