A loophole in the Player loan rules, which was exploited last season, has now been closed tightly shut, with new rules now coming into replace the previous wording of the rules. The revised passages are in italics. So now Rule 13 will read as such:

13. PLAYERS There will be registration of players using the England & Wales Cricket Board registration form on the Two Counties Play-Cricket website. All players must be registered on Play-Cricket. Players can only be registered after the 1^st August with the permission of the Management Sub-Committee. Players cannot play for more than one Club in the East Anglian Premier League Feeder System (Cambridgeshire & Huntingdon Premier League, Norfolk Cricket Alliance, and the Two Counties Championship, nor be a registered player for any Premier League, and any connected feeder system during a season except with permission from the Management Sub-Committee.EXCEPTIONS 1) Any player playing for a Club in the Two Counties Saturday divisions (i.e. 1-9) is allowed to play for another Club in the Sunday League and in the Two Counties Ladies competitions.

PLAYER LOAN ARRANGEMENTS 2) Any player under the age of 16 and over 50 as of April 1^st of the current season is allowed to play for one other club providing he/she has not played more than eight matches for the parent Club. The club wishing to borrow an eligible player must submit a registration form on the Two Counties Play-Cricket website, but not check the box for a permanent transfer. The parent club will then be asked for permission for the loan to go through, and, also add the agreed length of the loan period. Players taken on loan from one club to another should not play against the parent club, and they can only play for the loaning clubs lowest ranked team, if they have more than one team in the League. Player loans arranged after August 1^st, must have had their registration approval confirmed before they can play for the loaning club. 3) Any player aged 17 or 18 as of April 1^st of the current season is allowed to play for one other club providing he/she has not played more than four matches for the parent Club. The club wishing to borrow an eligible player must submit a registration form on the Two Counties Play-Cricket website, but not check the box for a permanent transfer. The parent club will then be asked for permission for the loan to go through, and, also add the agreed length of the loan period. Players taken on loan from one club to another should not play against the parent club, and they can only play for the loaning clubs lowest ranked team, if they have more than one team in the League. Player loans arranged after August 1^st, must have had their registration approval confirmed before they can play for the loaning club. b. There may be occasions when a new player represents his club before registration on Play-Cricket has been completed. The registration should be completed within the same time frame as the requirement to post the full scorecard on Play-Cricket (rule 19b). Should that registration still be incomplete seven days after the date of the match then a deduction of 5 points will be levied. Any further delay could result in rule 13c being applied. As from August 1^st, registration must have been granted prior to the player being eligible to play. PENALTIES c. Any club adjudged to have fielded an ineligible player shall be penalized by forfeiting any points gained in that match plus a further sixteen points. In addition, the opposing team will automatically be awarded the match and receive 20 points. There will be a right of appeal for both player and club. A deposit of £50 is required to activate an appeal which will be conducted in accordance with the appeals procedure as set out under the ECB regulations for cricket leagues (see ECB regulation 4, further down this document). The player involved may be banned from the Championship for the remainder of the season. An ineligible player is one who is not registered on Play-Cricket for the club he/she was playing, or deemed to be ineligible by the Management Sub-Committee.

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.