Introduction

The North West Cricket Union approached the following 7 members to form a �Think Tank� with no limits to come up with recommendations for the advancement of cricket in the North West.

1.1 Members

1.2 Mission Statement

The Think Tank felt that the natural starting point was to come up with a Mission Statement. This Mission Statement was determined to be: �To create a development path from Grassroots to International Cricket within the North West Cricket Union�

1.3 Recommendation Structure

It is the Think Tanks intention to raise issues for debate and consultation and that this paper would be a working document. From this initial mission statement the Think Tank came up with recommendations grouped in 7 main areas.

2 Recommendations

2.1 Premier League and Championship License

Area of Concern

Due to the overall decline in club structures and development from within some clubs playing in North West cricket, it would be recommended that clubs have to meet a required criteria to play in the Premier League and Championship.

Recommendation PREMIER LEAGUE AND CHAMPIONSHIP LICENCE

The criteria has been set to raise the quality of clubs that play in the North West Premier League � as these clubs are the standard bearers in North West Cricket.

A set of criteria would be assessed prior to the season by the North West Management Committee (or one appointed by them convened potentially by a Cricket Development Officer).

Slightly lower expectations would be required of championship clubs but any club with ambition of premiership status would need to acquire a premier league licence prior to be being promoted. An example of such a licence would be:

2.2 Establish a North West Youth and Women�s Cricket Forum

Area of Concern

Youth cricket is currently fragmented; although many people are doing a lot of hard work to develop the next generation there is no central forum for galvanized thinking.

Although the Derry Midweek league have fixtures laid out for youth cricket, many youth interclub games are not getting played and no pressure is being put on clubs to develop youth cricket resulting in some clubs neglecting this duty.

There is limited structured communication between clubs, schools and coaches. Recommendation To build and strengthen youth cricket in the North West there is a need to establish a youth forum.

The forum would be made up of reps from: Derry Mid Week League NWCU NWCU Regional Coaching Team Schools Rep (e.g. Limavady / Foyle / Strabane) Cricket Development Officer By way of suggestion it is considered that the following is a starting point for the forum:

'THE BROADER THE PLAYER BASE AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL, THE GREATER THE CHANCE WE HAVE AT DEVELOPING THE STANDARD OF NORTH WEST CRICKET IN THE FUTURE'

Establish a Women�s cricket forum

Area of Concern

Due to no formal structure to develop Girls / Women's cricket in the North West there is a need to set up a dedicated forum / working group.

The structure's of Women's cricket in Ulster is a long way behind the schools and club structure in Leinster.

Recommendation

It is recommended a forum should be set up and made up of the following: Derry Mid Week League NW Women's Schools Rep Ulster Schools Rep NW Women's Clubs Rep Guidance from Cricket Ireland Women's Development Officer

The group will look at the following:

2.3 Cricket Development Officer

Area of Concern

It is considered that the previous 2 recommendations (club licensing and youth and Women�s forums) are essential to the development of cricket in the North West and should be established.

It is felt however that the success of such schemes would be limited without the focal point of a Cricket Development officer.

Recommendation

It is recommended that a committee be formed to seek out the funding to appoint a Cricket Development officer as soon as possible and to identify other funding opportunities through Cricket Ireland, Government bodies or through sponsorship.

2.4 League Structure

Areas of Concern

1) The current league structure is not relevant to the range of standards in clubs leading to mismatched games resulting in lowering of standards across the board.

2) Currently there is a high proportion of �dead rubber� games in all leagues leading to a lowering of standard and apathy to cricket. This is due to the 10 team league structure and the one up one down from section 1 to section 2 and no relegation from section 2.

League Structure

Recommendations

2.4.1 It is recommended that the following is the adopted league structure from the 2013 season onwards

2.4.2 The leagues will operate under the following Promotion and Relegation conditions:

League Structure Explained

We feel that restructuring the leagues as described and indicatively represented in Appendix A will give all teams appropriate number of matches.

Appendix B gives a breakdown of the minimum and maximum number of games a team can expect to play.

The maximum number of games rises as we go up the leagues for the most successful teams but throughout the leagues the average number of games a season will be in the low 20�s.

It will provide for a more competitive compact league with fewer meaningless matches and give more flexibility to the Fixtures secretary in putting together a more structured fixture list.

Appendix C shows an example fixture list which seeks to play all league cricket on Saturdays and first rounds of the cups, thereafter cup games will be played on Sundays.

Reserve days will be available on Sundays when required for washout and time will be available for the playoffs at the end of the season.

2.5 Regulations

Areas of Concern

1) The current league structure and replay regulations, given the amount of league games, cup competition and the unpredictability of the weather, provides for an unstructured season with significant amounts of midweek cricket and a very difficult task for fixture secretaries (union and clubs). This provides difficulties for players to structure work, family, social and cricket commitments � often with the result that cricket loses out.

2) The high levels of mid week cricket has a direct impact on player development (both senior and junior). High levels of mid week cricket means less chance for the cricket union to implement a structured youth fixture list and reduces the amount of available dedicated practice nights with dedicated coaching.

3) The actual amount of weekend 50 over league cricket is currently reduced because replays invariably are midweek 20/20 matches or rescheduled games being 40 overs being played over two or three nights. Often these games are played under differing weather and pitch conditions. It is also inappropriate that high levels of 20/20 cricket are played to decide what is supposed to be a 50 over league - played at weekends.

4) The current starring system, at times makes a mockery of the intermediate leagues, with as many as 6 players from a higher league able to play in a lower league in times of need or for important games.

5) Currently administrators find it difficult to collate results and produce accurate tables especially in intermediate cricket, leading to player apathy and administrator frustration.

Regulation

Recommendations

2.5.1 The Leagues will adopt the following starting time and replay regulations:

2.5.2 Playing Rules

2.5.3 Starring System

2.5.4 Results System

Recommendations Explained

It is considered that the above proposals addresses many of the areas of concern detailed above whilst taking into account constraints such as clubs having school players unavailable for 12 o�clock starts and the financial and hastle implications of coloured clothing for senior cricket.

Other discussion points on the above regulation recommendations are as follows:

12 o�clock starts � Earlier starts will mean more chance of a result on the day and allows for social/family life 50 0vers in Premiership, Championship and Qualifying Leagues.

40 overs in Junior leagues � To give players at the NW top level experience of International length game. � The aim of Championship and Qualifying league teams should be to push on to Premier league and keeping them at 50 overs will help them prepare for this.

Adoption of BKISC regulations and Duckworth Lewis for weather affected games. � BKISC regulations in the top leagues will give aspiring international cricketers a feel for the international game and provide a better stepping stone that the current format. � Bringing in BKISC regulations will mean captains and players having to �think� more during games so improving skill levels � Bringing in Duckworth Lewis will mean more results on the day and lessen the need for replays and/or games being continued into midweek nights.

Starring system

The current system needs reviewed in order to:

Results to be emailed by the WINNING team within 72 hours or no points will be awarded 

Slow overs penalty of 6 runs per over not started at end of allocated playing time in each innings

2.6 Cup Competitions

Area of Concern

There is little concern in this regard as it is felt that in general that the cup competitions in the NW are well received by players and supporters.

There are however several recommendations as detailed below.

Recommendations

2.6.1 Game Lengths

2.6.2 Playing Regulations

2.6.3

 Recommended that in consultation with the Derry Midweek League that the 20/20 competitions (Faughan Valley and Sperrin Springs) played on a midweek basis are given more prominence, fixtures and promotion prior to the finals day.

Cricket Ireland Proposal

2.6.4 It is recommended to proceed forward with this proposal for an all-ireland cup (Appendix D) as proposed by Cricket Ireland as it will provide more competitive, well rounded experience for Championship clubs.

2.7 Governance

Area of Concern

With the recommendations in this report and the added pressures being applied by cricket Ireland, there is a concern that the current work loads are unfairly distributed and that some of the committees and resources available are not being used to their full potential.

Recommendation

2.7.1 Review our committees and provide a clear set of roles and responsibilities for each to include;

3.0 Implementation Time - Line

3 year plan for the implementation of recommendations

2012 Season

Regulations, Cup Competitions, North West Youth Cricket Forum, Cricket Development Officer

2013 Season

League Structure

Phased in from 2012 until 2015

Premier League/Championship Licence