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This year's AGM will be held at Places Leisure Eastleigh on Tuesday 18th June at 19:30.

Please take some time to read through the constitution as there are some major changes which have been introduced to improve the week to week experience of everyone involved. Should you have any objections to anything within the proposal, please get in touch prior to the AGM so it may be known beforehand as we wish to keep discussions to a minimum at the AGM itself.

Agenda:

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Proposed Constitution:

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To all,

As you may or may not be aware, over the last six months, the Committee have been in negotiation with the Places Leisure (PL) higher management and Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) in an effort to gain approval for Indoor Cricket to be played on Courts 1-5. These negotiations have included representation from both the England & Wales (ECB) and Hampshire (HCB) Cricket Boards that supported our case to play Indoor Cricket on this court with suitable netting to protect the all glass spectator area.

However, I am sad to report that whilst the leisure centre management were supportive of our case, nevertheless their Insurers were not, citing that even with the mitigation measures we had submitted there was still a risk of damage to the glass frontage. Therefore, we have been told for the final time that Indoor Cricket cannot be played on Courts 1-5 and we now have accepted not much more can be achieved by continuing to challenge this decision.

This is not the news we had all hoped for because, as you know, we as an organisation are presently dealing with (especially on Courts 11-15) spectator and scorer viewing issues and this combined with ever increasing game delay and schedule problems is making life difficult for us alike and Places Leisure’s recent decision does not help us improve this situation.

Indeed, it now requires some difficult proposal recommendations to be made by the Committee to you all at the AGM, where we have listened to your feedback via the recent on-line survey and those of you who attended the Pre-AGM forum at Totton & Eling. We are still working through the effects these recommendations will have on our playing regulations, but also respect the need and time for you to digest some of the outcomes before the AGM (to be held mid to late June).

Therefore, we propose to:

1. Change the timings of each game to 1hr 5 min, rather than 1hr.
2. Because of Item 1, fees/expenses will be increased, but not fully implemented until the start of the 2020/21 Season and likely to be phased in to assist clubs manage additional costs.
3. Starting the 2020/21 Season, all fees will be reviewed and increased if necessary each year by the Committee automatically in line with any Places Leisure increases to ensure the leagues financial viability.
4. Start each season with a base structure of:
   • Under 14’s: 8 Teams playing each other once
   • Under 16’s: 8 Teams playing each other once
   • Ladies Division: 8 Teams playing each other once
   • Men’s Premier Division: 5 Teams playing each other twice
   • Men’s Divisions 1, 2 and 3: 8 Teams playing each other once
   • Adjust per season as demand and availability necessitates.
5. To accommodate Items 1 and 4, revise the start times to the following:
   15:30, 16:35, 17.40, 18:45, 19:50, 20:55 (meaning the last match should finish no later than 22:00).
6. For any Junior/Colts Divisions:
   • Reduce each innings to 10 overs
   • use a Tiflex Ball
7. For all competitions, bowlers run ups will be reduced and suitably marked by a line on the floor of the playing facilities.
8. The adoption of a more standardised and comprehensive discipline structure, with offences incurring a set level of financial penalty, for example:
   • No scorer provided: 1st occurrence £5, then £10 for 2nd etc.
   • Failure to start a match on time: 1st occurrence £5, then £10 for 2nd etc.
   • At any point decided by the Committee, consideration may be given to expelling teams that consistently attract these financial penalties.
9. Discontinue having a duty team on the night, but to assist introduce the following:
   • Captains:
   • Submitting completed Team names on the Scorers/Team sheet and placing in the ‘Games to be played’ box on the paperwork desk 15 minutes prior to their scheduled game start time.
   • Ensuring a completed scoresheet is placed in the ‘Games Played’ box on scorer’s desk before the end of the next games 1st innings.
   • Doing the toss for their match during the innings break of the preceding match in the presence of the on field umpire(s).
   • Instigating 3 minutes to go scoreboard countdown both at the start of the match and during the innings break to inform all players when play is to start/resume; which should be enough time for any bowling practice and clothing changes.
   • Umpires:
   • Manage the toss before matches (as in Item 9, a, iii)
   • Aligned with 9, a, iv above, ensure they have instigated the 3 minute countdown and manage any late starts (both 1st and 2nd Innings) by administering reduced overs penalties.
   • To avoid confusion, only officiate the matches they are appointed, unless circumstances dictate otherwise, but this must be agreed.
10. For future (not this years) Annual General Meeting (AGM)/Emergency General Meetings a simple majority, rather than 2/3rds majority to agree proposals.

We acutely recognise the financial, time and other concerns these proposed changes will have on us all, but to do nothing to address the issues we all acknowledge have made life difficult (particularly since we have been playing in the new facilities over the last couple of seasons) would be remiss of the Committee.

We believe on balance our recommendations to be a positive step forward, to meet the challenges we face going forward and allow us to hopefully improve our indoor cricket experience and participation and I encourage you to embrace and approve our proposals, rather than falling back to the 'Status Quo' which we will have to deal with if they are not.

These recommendations will be voted on mass at the AGM and not subject to any alterations/discussion once the agenda has been released in a weeks’ time. So, should you have an objection to the above proposals, please inform me within the next seven days as it is your final chance. This applies to any other ideas unrelated to the above as well. A finalised, full-length copy of the proposed constitution will be released with the formal notice of the AGM.