22 November 2004, 7.30pm
Held at Cheadle Conservative Club
Present: President, Chairman, Secretary, Veterans’ Match Secretary, Treasurer and delegates
Apologies: Green End, South Reddish Vets, Withington
Absences: Cringlewood, Northern Etchells, South Manchester BL, Victoria, Woodley Sports
The minutes of the previous half yearly meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and approved.
In rule 3.8 (Doubling-up), delete the sentence “For the purposes of this rule, all matches shall be considered to have been played on the original dates specified in the fixtures.”
Proposed by Stockport Cricket Club.
The Stockport CC delegate said that they had made the same proposal a year ago and it had been defeated. He thought that delegates may have misunderstood his argument. The problem was that he had to cancel a second team match because of holidays, and moved second team players to the first team. On the rearranged date for the second team match, these players were ineligible under rule 3.8, and the first team players who had been on holiday were also ineligible because they had plus averages. So in the end he could not field a full team.
Grange and Marple clubs reported that they had the same problem.
Various alternative solutions to the problem were suggested:
None of these ideas found great support.
The proposal was passed, 28 votes to 14.
Amend rule 4.1 to read: “Competing teams shall number ten players. Twelve handbooks per team are included in the annual fee.
In rule 6.2, delete “twelve” and insert “ten.”
In rule 6.4, delete “12” and insert “ten” (in three places).
Proposed by the Secretary
Amend rule 4.1 to read: “Competing teams shall number eight players. Ten handbooks per team are included in the annual fee.
In rule 4.2 delete the sentence “Up to 15th May and in August the start time shall be 6.30pm for all clubs without floodlights.”
In rule 6.2, delete “twelve” and insert “eight.”
In rule 6.4, delete “12” and insert “eight” (in three places).
Proposed by the Secretary
These two proposals were considered together. The secretary explained that he was offering them for delegates to decide upon, without any recommendation either way. The trend in recent years had been decline in the evening league, and this affected other leagues as well. Something had to be done, perhaps reducing team size would help.
Some clubs reported that they had problems raising a team, and would have to resign if the team size stayed at 12. On the other hand, other clubs had sufficient players, and would have problems if they could not all get games.
The Stockport Parks league had been discussing such a proposal for several years; this year it had finally been accepted. This possibly gave us an opportunity to learn from their experience in the coming season.
Votes were cast as follows:
Both proposals were therefore defeated.
The secretary reported ongoing problems with the definition of a standard jack. The new reference jacks were stronger than the old ones, and he advised bowlers to wait if possible before getting their woods and jacks tested in the hope that order would be restored.
The Grange delegate reported that their green would be shut for a week next June for maintenance, and he apologised in advance for the inconvenience.
He also asked all clubs to record walkovers correctly, and not enter fictitious scores like 21-3.
Currently we do not award replica trophies for the leading averages in the veterans’ league. The treasurer asked if we should do so in future, and this was approved.
It was pointed out that some Jennison Shield matches clashed with Manchester Parks Vets fixtures. The secretary said that the season was congested, but he would try to take into account any information he received.
The Annual General Meeting would be on 24 January 2005.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.20pm.