North Essex Cricket League

Now with the start of the season imminent, a timely reminder of the dreaded admin! These rules and fines apply to T40 and T20 competitions only – T30 may want to adopt some of the courtesy suggestions – advising opposition of provision of teas, advising opposition of concession in good time. Please advise opposition and umpires if you are planning to provide teas for the game, at least the day before the game. Any club that concedes a match, due to lack of players, must inform their opposition within 36 hours of the start time of the match – failure to do so will result in expenses paid to the home club of £30 or its reasonable wasted expense, whichever is higher. A concession must also be reported by the conceding team, to the Results Secretary (Kevin Hewes) –  by 10pm on the day preceding the match. If this is not done the conceding side will be fined £25 and deducted 10 points. Matches cancelled due to weather or concession can be re-arranged, however, the re-arrangement of conceded games must not be to the detriment of the non conceding club. This rule applies to match up to July 31st – any [...Continue Reading]

With the season just eleven days away, here is a brief update on Umpires for 2022. David Root has assigned as many umpires as he can to NECL Division 1, Division 2 and T20 matches. In some cases he has not been able to allocate umpires, and clubs will have to umpire between themselves. These appointments are visible on the Umpires tab, Umpire Appointments for April and May, as are contact numbers for the umpires. The cost of an umpire has increased in 2022 to £40, to be paid on the day preferably by cash, but if that is not possible by cheque. We appreciate clubs are generally moving to online systems for collection of match fees, and umpires may be happy to be paid by BACS, but if that is not the case and not all people want to give out bank details, then please be prepared to pay in cash or by cheque. Where one umpire is standing the clubs will share the cost, so £20 each.  Secondly, with Covid restrictions still in mind some clubs may be reticent in providing teas. At the AGM it was decided that it should be up to the home club [...Continue Reading]

A reminder about league rules and protocols around match cancellations A Division 1 club has recently experienced problems with successive cancellations by opponents, so I should like to remind clubs of the rules and expectations, if they need to call a game off. Rule 15A requires any away club failing to fulfil a fixture (other than for bad weather) without giving the home team 36 hours notice before the start-time to pay the home club £30 (or more, if its reasonable wasted expenses are higher. Rule 15B requires any club unable to fulfil a league fixture due to lack of players to inform their opponents (and the league) by 10pm on the day before the game. If not, they will incur a £25 fine and a 10 point deduction, unless the Management Committee determine otherwise. The League also expects its member clubs to show proper consideration to away teams when calling off a game due to bad weather. If possible, a decision should be made and communicated to the away team in time to avoid unnecessary travel. We would expect such contact to be via a direct phone call rather than an email which may not be picked up [...Continue Reading]

Play Cricket Instructions For those new to the process of adding scorecards, or new players to Play-Cricket, please find attached instructions. It would be better to encourage players to register with Play Cricket, and then join the club(s) they are playing for, so there are not multiple instances on the same player within the system. Add-Results-And-Scorecards.pdf

It has been brought to the attention of the League Committee that there have been a couple of occurrences already this season where when a match has been conceded, the standing neutral umpires have not been notified, and have subsequently turned up to the ground on a wasted journey! If a game is conceded can the home side please contact Umpires as a priority, if the away side has conceded it would be courteous for them to also make the umpire(s) aware. Any failure to do this going forward this season, will result in the home side having to pay the standing Umpire(s) any wasted expenses.

I am pleased to say that the revised League Rules as agreed by the Management Committee have now been published on the website, ahead of the 2018 season. Can be viewed here. There are a number of changes from previous rules, particularly regarding the change to the points system, re-arranging conceded games, updated T20 rules for shortened games. Please ensure captains in particular are acquainted with the rules, prior to the first games. A brief reminder of the following rules; Umpire Assessment Forms - should be completed by all teams in Div 1, Div 2 and T20 where neutral umpires stand - points deductions can occur if not done in a timely manner. Sightscreens - should be at all Div 1 and Div 2 grounds - dispensation is given for the first season for a side being promoted from Div 3. Balls - a new ball will be provided by both teams in Div 1 for each innings. In Div 2 and Div 3, a new ball will be provided by the home team and will be used for the duration of the match. Rule 29 and 29A - Submitting match results on the day of the game, and then completing Play-Cricket scorecard within [...Continue Reading]

With the new season rapidly approaching it might be a good time to remind everyone of player expectations on the field. Especially with regard to Law 42 and possible sanctions that can be imposed. Follow the link to the ECB presentation.

With just over two weeks to the start of the season, the 2018 NECL fixtures for both the 40 over and T20 competitions have now been loaded onto Play-Cricket. Can Club Play-Cricket Administrators please look at getting your new players loaded onto the system ahead of the 2018 season. Remember a player can get a better experience of their own stats if they register personally with Play-Cricket. Play-Cricket have also released this week a 'FREE' laptop scoring solution for the 2018 season called Play-Cricket Scorer Pro, which will be compatible with Play-Cricket, thereby saving data entry after the game. I have downloaded it this morning, and early impressions are that it ticks all the boxes. To download Play-Cricket Scorer Pro follow the link https://play-cricket.com/updates3