The following information was received this afternoon from the Wetherby Cricket League.
"Bramham & Clifford have confirmed that, as expected, their 2nd XI will not be in a position to fulfil any fixtures in Division 6 this season.
All points gained by teams from fixtures forfeited by Bramham & Clifford will now be expunged.
Of the 7 remaining teams in Division 6, Amaranth, East Keswick, Hillam & Monk Fryston and Whixley were due to play Bramham & Clifford 4 times. This now means that they will only be playing 18 league fixtures this season whilst Green Hammerton, Scholes and South Milford were due to play them only twice leaving them with 20 league fixtures.
The Senior Cricket Committee considered the following options:
1. To leave the fixture schedule as it is and calculate the league table on an average points per game basis.
2. To arrange 2 additional fixtures for the teams who will be playing 18 so that all teams play 20.
3. To remove 2 fixtures from the teams who will be playing 20 so that all teams play 18.
We felt that option 1 could be difficult to administer and option 2 would be unpopular as the additional fixtures would need to be played on a Sunday, therefore, we have decided that option 3 is the only feasible solution. To ensure that all 7 teams play 18 league fixtures the following will now be classed as friendlies:
· 4th June – Green Hammerton A v Scholes A
· 25th June – Scholes A v South Milford A
· 23rd July – South Milford A v Green Hammerton A
They will still need to be played under the same rules as all other league games except that no league points will be awarded, appearances will not count towards the cup/last 3 league games rule, individual performances will not count towards the league averages, the results do not need to be texted and no match return is required.
Although it is a shame that Bramham & Clifford A are unable to fulfil their fixtures there are two positives that have arisen:
1. Great Preston have a number of spare players this season and after a discussion with them they have agreed to field a 3rd XI on all the weeks when Bramham & Clifford were scheduled to play away, starting with Scholes on 28th May. As Great Preston B did not enter the WCL this season, none of these games will need to be played under the league rules, therefore, the clubs may be flexible to suit.
2. When teams do have blank weeks they should be in a position to put their entire 2nd XI into the Player Pool and hopefully prevent other teams from having to cancel fixtures due to a shortage of players.
The Senior Cricket Committee will discuss promotion and the future structure of Division 6 at their meeting next week. If you would like to submit any recommendations from your club regarding these matters please do not hesitate to contact me before the end of the week."
Essentially all this means the 2nd XI will play four less competitive games this season, although the two home games against Bramham can be replaced by two friendly games against Great Preston. This would mean that there would only be two weeks of the season where the 2nd XI would not have a game. These would be:
ReplyDelete20th August & 10th September.
What to do with these two weeks would have to be discussed by the club. Either people don't play or perhaps some sort of alternative fixtures could be arranged.