Dear All

As you will know, Saturday 10^th May marks the start of our first ever season in the Herts League and there will be certain playing conditions, criteria, and something that we will need to adhere to. Although our approach and ethos to cricket as a club doesn’t change, we will need to absorb the league rules and regulations.

The committee have been working diligently since the AGM to ensure everything goes as smooth as possible, but the following is the responsibility of players to be aware of as we head into this exciting era.

I have scanned the relevant sections of the Players Matchday Handbook and a link to this can be found on the homepage, but for ease I have tried to summarise the key points below. Additionally to these please help us by following this additional club guidance;

1. Don’t be late – you’ll be letting your team mates down, and if we are unable to start on time we can be reported and docked points. The meet time (usually 30 ins before start) is there for a reason, please be respectful of this.
2. Support your teammates – if someone does some poor fielding, bowls badly or plays a silly shot, please be supportive of them whatever the circumstances. It’s not the World Cup.
3. Don’t be a dickhead! – we will no doubt meet the odd opposition who don’t hold standards as high as ours. Please be the bigger man and rise above anything tempting to drag you down into confrontation. We could be docked points if reported and it’s still not the World Cup. I know you won’t but needs to be said.
4. Don’t throw the ball near the batsman without a real possibility of running them out – the ECB are clamping down hard on this as it’s a Health & Safety issue. If you don’t have a realistic chance, please don’t bother to have a shy.
5. Umpiring – think about your colleagues and only if you are 100% convinced, give them out. You might ruin their day on a 50/50 call, and I doubt the opposition will afford us any generosity.
6. Enjoy it – it’s a new era, that hopefully helps take the club forward. Lets make it better than we ever thought we could.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch

Cheers,

Nick (on behalf of the Arkley CC committee)

Match Regulations

• Start Time: Matches begin at 1:00 PM with 40 overs per innings.
• Duration: Fielding sides must complete their innings within 2 hours and 20 minutes.
• Delays & Weather: Matches shortened at 1 over per innings per 7 minutes lost. Second innings interruptions reduce overs at 1 over per 3.5 minutes lost.
• Minimum Overs: At least 20 overs per side required for a match.
• Points System:

On-Field Rules

• Over Limits: Max 8 overs per bowler.
• Fast Bowling Directive: ECB rules apply (age-based limits).
• High Full Tosses: first offence Automatic final warning, second offence = bowler removed.

Match Day & Administration

• Team Sheets: Submitted before the toss.
• Score Reporting: Home team reports match result by 9 PM.
• Player Registration: UK players registered by 10 AM on match day.

Key Penalties

• Fixture Not Fulfilled: Opponent awarded 30 points, defaulting team loses 10 points.
• Missing Umpires/Scorers: 5-point penalty per match if club fails to provide one.
• Late Team Sheet Submission: 5-point deduction.
• Unregistered Player: 5-point penalty per offence, 10 points if after August 1st.