Feedback & Suggestions

Thank you for all your contributions

Feedback & Suggestions will be considered, options recorded and referrals made to the Board or Executive as appropriate.

Page Last Updated: January 2024

you can add to the discussion HERE.

2023 Topics Under Consideration / Approved / Rejected

Below is a summary of the comments and suggestions made - full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

SENIOR MATCHES

Season Parameters & Start Times

A request to become a Saturday only league was not accepted.

A request to start all Saturday games at 1pm was not accepted. 
 

Blank Saturdays

A suggestion for the league to fill all blank Saturdays for divisions of less than 12 is not always possible or required by all clubs
 

Fixture Generation
Delay to 2023 fixtures acknowledged, mitigation ongoing with tech skills being shared for future years
 

Eid Fixtures
The two main Eid celebrations move in the Gregorian calendar used in the UK and whilst in 2024 the first now falls before the 2024 cricket season, the second Eid festival falls midweek for 2024, for which we have mitigated fixture issues with few fixtures allocated for Sunday 16th June, the Sunday before the celebrations. There should be no impact on Saturday fixtures for 2024. Where neither club is celebrating, clubs may move Sunday fixtures to this vacant date from later in the season to help alleviate congestion with Sunday fixtures later in the season.
 

Club & Team Penalties - Forfeits, Late Starts, Slow Overs, etc. 
The league are developing a new penalty system for penalties other than disciplinary in all competitions which will be partly automated and clearly visible to each club. More detail will follow.
 

Player Registration Deadline
There has to be a cut off at some point and we use 31 July to give the last 6 weeks free of transfers and avoiding the need to be checking player eligibility as competitions come to a conslusion. We accept that this may cause a difficulty occassionally but this would happen wherever the cut off date fell.
 

Match Balls
There was an issue in 2023 which blindsided the directors. For 2024 we have negotiated a reduced cost for the balls.
 

Overs Per Bowler
A suggestion to change the restriction to 20% of overs for all competitions was not accepted at club meetings.
 

Wide Lines
A suggestion to add Blue Wide Lines was not accepted.
 

Promotion and Relegation Numbers
It was agreed that there would be no changes to the 3 up, 3 down system which brings us a lot of competitibve cricket at the season end.
 

Bonus Points
It was agreed that there would be no changes to the Bonus Point system.
However, there will now be 30 minutes grace on match day for weather so no overs lost therefore Bonus points will not be lost unless there is more than 30 minutes delay to a game.
 

Starred Players
It was agreed that there would be no changes to the Starred Player system.
However, there will now be an additional claim to exemption allowed during the season.
 

Junior Exempt Players
It was agreed that there would be no changes to the Junior Exempt Player system.
 

DLS Minimum Overs
It was agreed that there would be no change in the league but the minimum for the cup would be reduced to 10 overs per side to hopefully get more games played to a result rather than a bowl out.
 

Teas
It was agreed that there would be no change in procedures for 2024.
 

SATURDAY MATCHES

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Overs
There was no call for change to Championship and Premiership overs at the club meetings
 

Deputy Professionals
GMCL are out of step with other ECB Premier Leagues and a full revisio of the rules will follow.
 

Divisional Structure
There was no clamour for change although an increase for more linear divisions will be considered for 2025 as it is felt there are now some stronger teams across all divisions of Division 4 but there was no support to separate the 1st and 2nd XIs on a Saturday to create two structures.
 

New 2nd XI
The suggestion is that new 2nd XI teams for clubs joining the league should, in the future, start in the lowest tier of the Saturday Competition to avoid disruption to other clubs. Because of the improvement across the tier this is a reasonable suggestion to be considered going forward.
 

SUNDAY MATCHES

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

One team per club per division
The issue of multiple teams in the same divisions on a Sunday has been resolved for 2024.
 

Player Eligibility based on team name
The suggestion to base eligibility of players based on the Sunday team name has not been accepted.
 

Player Eligibility - Unrestricted Competition
The suggestion to have a Sunday division with no starred player rules is accepted and a division is in place for 2024.
 

Impact of Cups on Sunday League
The loss of Sunday League games in May / June due to cups was compounded by the bad weather in 2023. For 2024 we are starting the cups earlier and limiting the reserve dates.
 

GMCL20 MATCHES

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Competition Structure
It has been agreed to revert to the previous structure and drop the mixed team competition, places allocated by senior team position.
 

Competition Dates
It has been agreed to start the competition later for warmer weather and have only 1 week break for a reserve date.
 

Finals Day Arrangements
The suggestion to hold the finals day at the home of the previous year's winners was not agreed.
 

Powerplay
A suggestion to amend the Powerplay overs was not agreed.
 

UMPIRE MATTERS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Fees - Club Umpire not provided
A suggestion to reduce the fees when a club umpire is not supplied was not agreed.
 

Rain Panel Umpires
A suggestion to have rain panel umpires in all divisions was not agreed.
 

New Clubs & Umpires
A suggestion to force new clubs joining the league do bring umpires with them was not accepted. All new clubs are asked to supply umpires just as every club in the league are asked and many do.
 

UMPIRE CRIB SHEETS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Entries should be discussed with the Umpires Association
 

CUP COMPETITIONS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Cup Draws
A suggestion to pre-draw the cup competitions to give more notice is not possible.  For 2024 we have spread the cup across more weeks giving more notice for draws when reserve dates are not required.
 

Declarations in Cup
A complaint that declarations are not allowed in cup. This was not amended.
 

Powerplay Overs in Cup Games
A suggestion that powerplays are confusing with different numbers in different comps was not accepted by club representatives.
 

GROUNDS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Ground Inspections & Reports
Comments on the failures of 2023 are accepted, New procedures are in place for 2024.
 

JUNIORS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Under 9
Suggestion that U9 competition should be better regionalised.  Teams are grouped by area, it is impossible for every team only to play the clubs nearest to them.
 

Fixtures delivered at short notice
Complaint that junior fixtures are issued at short notice for the performance leagues.  The junior season is short and there must be a quick turnaround for the performance league which can only be generated after the regional divisions are completed. 
 

TECHNOLOGY

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

MyActionReplay - cameras
Following the loss of service at the end of last season, GMCL officers are pursuing available options. 
 

OTHER LEAGUE MATTERS

full detail of the suggestions / comments and responses is available on this downloadable document

Annual General Meeting
The date and venue of the AGM is always posted on the GMCL online calendar in advance of formal messages and emails to clubs. 
 

Equality & Diversity Training
It was agreed that Captains and Club Welfare Officers would be mandated to undertake this training. Discussion will be held with the ECB on how this could be recorded to ensure compliance. This would be included in the revised MoU.
 

2022 Topics Under Consideration / Approved / Rejected

Annual Request for Club Details : We have recently collected club contact details for 2023, this will be the securely stored central contact information for all GMCL directors and officers requiring contact information, managed under GDPR processes.

Teas: Teas are mandatory at our top level - clubs providing teas are listed here

Start Time: The start times for the Saturday league have been simplified and brought forward

• Early Saturday Start: A few suggestions received to move to an 11am start on a Saturday. Many contra suggestions received stating that such a move would limit players who have child care or family and children's activities on a Saturday morning as well as those who have to work Saturday morning, there are also club concerns at losing customers at the ground for the evening. We cannot take this idea forward at this time.

Overs on a Saturday: A suggestion to further reduce the overs in the lower leagues on a Saturday did not have enough support from clubs to change

Bowler's Overs: A suggestion to reduce the overs permitted for each bowler in GMCL competition did not have enough support from clubs to change

Bonus Point allocation: Bonus Points can only be allocated automatically on a set of parameters to give a logical progression to determine if a point is due or not. We recognise that sometimes a game affected by weather can be as "worthy" as an unaffected game for a bonus point but at present establishing the various points at which a bonus may become apropriate is proving too complex to add to the bonus point logic. An example would be that in a game reduced to 25 overs is it fair that a team winning with less than 3 wickets down gets a bonus when in a full match they have to bat a full 50 overs to get that bonus for 3 wickets - what is the 25 over equivalent of the 3 wkt limit? what is 35 over limit? 42 over limit? As you can see from that the number of permutations could be lengthy. We remain active in looking for possible solutions to improve this.

Player Eligibility: 2nd XI Final 3 games - We have a suggestion to reduce the eligibility requirements for the final 3 games. We are satisfied that the current minimum requirement is appropriate - anyone who has played six or more games in the 1st XI must have played in at least three 2nd XI games in the season to be eligible for the last three 2nd XI games. No change.

No Balls: A suggestion to consider free hit in all league games. There has only been one suggestion in favour of this, and would require more support to consider further review especially in the regional divisions where more wides and no balls are generally committed. Not taken forward at this time.

Why not click on the link above to add your ideas