Wykeham Cricket Club

The following rule changes have recently been proposed by Staxton cricket club and would effect the Scarborough Beckett League and the Andyhire Scarborough Evening League

At a recent committee meeting we discussed possible rule changes to improve the current Readers Scarborough Beckett League and the Scarborough Andyhire Evening League.
The next step as you all know is to get a fellow member of the relevant league to second our proposal. Then it can be taken forward to the committees of the leagues.
Below are the rules as they stand now, what we propose to change them too and our rationale for trying to change these rules.

Scarborough Beckett League

Points System

Current Rule

A win shall count 10 points, plus bonus points. A tie 5 points, plus bonus points and a game abandoned at any stage 5 points. (any bonus points obtained to count.)

Bonus Points

Batting Bowling
1 at 100 runs 1 at 2 wickets
2 at 125 runs 2 at 4 wickets
3 at 150 runs 3 at 6 wickets
4 at 175 runs 4 at 8 wickets
5 at 200 runs 5 at 10 wickets (MAX)
If a team batting first is bowled out for under 100 runs, then the team batting second, if winning the match, shall gain a maximum of five batting points, less any bowling points gained by the opposition.

Proposed Changes

York Senior League Points System.

When a game is played to a conclusion, points shall be awarded in the following manner:-

WIN 30 points no bonus points added
TIE 15 points plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned
WINNING DRAW 18 points plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned
LOSING DRAW 1 point plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned
LOSING DRAW – 75%** 5 points plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned
LOSING DRAW – 90%** 10 points plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned DEFEAT 0 points plus batting & bowling bonus points as earned

** The 75% and 90% relate to the winning target (i.e. the first innings total plus one).

Non-Completed Games

Where weather conditions prevent the start or completion of a match, each team will be awarded 5 points plus a minimum of two batting points and two bowling points. Any bonus points in excess of the minimum award gained during the course of the game will be retained.

Bonus Points

During the course of the match, bonus points will be awarded as shown below. These will be retained whatever the result apart from a team recording a WIN who will be awarded 30 points as described in section ‘A’ above.
The batting side will be awarded one point for attaining 100 runs and one point for each additional completed 25 runs. No side shall gain more than five batting bonus points.
The bowling side will be awarded one point for taking two wickets with an additional one point at the fall of the 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th wicket. In the event of a side being dismissed when batting with less than a full side, the bowling side will be awarded full bonus points.

Proposal

i) That the York Senior League points system be brought into the Beckett Premier and the Beckett A Division
ii) That the York Senior League Points System to be brought into all Beckett Leagues

Rationale

This is obviously a tried and tested points system being used in the York Senior league for many years. Bringing this points system into the Beckett league will provide more competitive cricket with a side chasing runs having several targets 75%, 90% and 100% to chase to gain more points plus bonus points already available in the current Beckett league system. On top of this a weaker side batting first to prevent teams getting maximum batting points in the current Beckett league points system would be pointless and again add to a positive cricket being played. Also this point system would take away the winning the title and avoiding relegation on the toss of a coin.

Extension of Current Rule

If a team batting second reaches the winning total, then that team shall be awarded the bowling points not achieved by the fielding team. But the total point shall not exceed 20.
For example a team bowls first and restricts a team to 118. This means under the current scoring system the team bowling first would only be able to gain 16 points maximum. This in our eyes is punishing a team for bowling well. Under the new proposed system the team bowling first would get the opportunity to gain full points by knocking off the runs with losing no wickets or one wicket. If they lost 2 wickets they would gain 19, lose 4 wickets 18 and so on!
Basically this proposed rule is an extension of the current rule of bowling a team out for less than 100.

Rationale

This rule change would take the chance of losing a title / relegation on the toss of a coin away. With constantly improving standards bowling a team for less than a 100 is becoming even more difficult.
Also it would take away the negative cricket of not scoring runs towards the end of an innings to prevent another team scoring extra bonus points because these bonus points would be available anyway.
 

Strengthening of 2nd XI after the 14th Game of the Season

Current Rule

After the 14th League fixture, no club shall strengthen its second team with a regular first team player. (Regular meaning, having played the majority of League matches for the 1st X1) unless a player is under 17 years old at the start of the season, whereupon he is not subject to this rule and may play for any club team at any time of the season.

Proposed Rule Change

After the 14th League fixture, no club shall strengthen its second team with a regular first team player at the discretion of the Beckett League committee. (Regular meaning, having played the majority of League matches for the 1st X1) unless a player is under 17 years old at the start of the season, whereupon he is not subject to this rule and may play for any club team at any time of the season.

Rationale

This year we had the situation where by we strengthened our first team at the end of July which had a knock on effect. So a 1st XI player had to drop down into the 2nd XI and was unable to play any form of cricket for the last 4 games. Adding the words ‘at the discretion of the Beckett League committee’ would eliminate the problems we had this year and still make the rule stand as the committee would know straight away whether a team were strengthening sides to avoid relegation or win promotion or the reason were genuine.

New Ball

Current Rule

Teams in the “Premier” Division shall use a new ball for each innings of the game. Teams in Division ‘A’, shall provide their own ball, of the approved type. This does not have to be a new ball but acceptable to the umpire (s) Teams in Divisions ‘B & ‘C’ shall use a new ball of the approved type, provided by the home team.

Proposed Rule

Teams in the “Premier” Division shall use a new ball for each innings of the game. Teams in Division ‘A’, shall provide their own ball, of the approved type. This does not have to be a new ball but acceptable to the umpire (s) Teams in Divisions ‘B & ‘C’ shall use their own approved type ball which does not have to be new but accepted by both captains at the toss.

Rationale

Firstly we feel that the cost implications of using nine new balls a year a problem. Secondly using a new ball for the first innings effects the captain’s decision at the toss whereby using a new ball sometimes is more beneficial than batting first on a good batting pitch. Thirdly if the team supplied their own ball then teams may decide they want to use a new ball and that is fine as long as it is agreed at the toss between both captains. This rule change would just give clubs the option of using a new ball but not forcing teams to use one.
 

Summary

1) Change points system to York Senior League system for Beckett Premier and Beckett A League
2) Change points system to York Senior League system for ALL Beckett Leagues.
3) What points the batting side do not achieve then the bowling side will have opportunity to gain those points.
4) Strengthening a 2nd XI side after the 14th game will be at the discretion of the Beckett League committee.
5) Beckett B and Beckett C to use their own approved ball for their own innings which is agreed at the toss by the captains.

Scarborough Andyhire Evening League

Amount of overs

Current Rule

Each side shall bowl 20 (6 ball) overs (unless a side is all out within that 20 overs). It is expected that the 20 overs should not take longer than 1 hour 10 minutes to complete. (Note:- At clubs discretion and mutual agreement, overs per side may be reduced to a minimum or 16 overs per side due to late starts or dark evenings, but only during May – in June and July 20 overs per side have to be played).

Proposed Rule Change

Each side shall bowl 20 (6 ball) overs (unless a side is all out within that 20 overs). It is expected that the 20 overs should not take longer than 1 hour 10 minutes to complete. (Note:- At clubs discretion and mutual agreement, overs per side may be reduced to a minimum or 16 overs per side due to late starts or dark evenings at any point during the season.

Rationale

We feel that the captains should have the opportunity to reduce the match to an agreed number of overs according to the conditions of the day. Even in June you can get a dark cloudy night making the game very difficult and dangerous, if a full 40 overs have to be bowled. With this simple rule change would give captains the chance to reduce overs in the interests of the game. Obviously we believe that every effort should be made to play 20 overs but as we all know this is not always possible.