Willow League Rules and Points

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The rules of cricket as approved by the MCC shall apply unless otherwise amended or adapted locally for the League. The following local rules apply for the 2008 season and for every subsequent season until such time as they are revised.

GENERAL RULES
Teams may rearrange games if the date they have been allocated in the original fixtures is not convenient due to widespread unavailability of players, unavailability of designated pitch etc: providing that both teams can reach agreement on an alternative date. A change for 2008 - a rain-affected match can be re-arranged by mutual agreement between the two teams so long as it didn't carry over beyond the date of the final League fixture. In games that are not re-arranged no points are awarded as they do not count towards League and Shield/Plate standings.

If the weather is particularly bad during the day of the game and there is realistically very little chance of the game being played, representatives from both sides may agree, by telephone, to cancel the game beforehand to avoid players from both sides unnecessarily making the journey to the ground.

The toss for each game should take place at 6.00pm sharp irrespective of whether the captains are present or not and each team should be ready to commence the match as soon as the toss has been completed (in any event all games should start by 6.15pm at the latest). If the captain of a team is not present by the appointed time to toss up and no other member of the team is prepared to do so, the other team shall be deemed to have won the toss and shall decide whether to bat or bowl. The game then commences without further delay.

The home team (as designated on the fixture list) must supply the wickets and the match ball in each game.

The minimum number of players in a team to take part in a match should be no less than 7 otherwise the team forfeits the game unless the opposition agree to play it.

Teams are allowed to use a white ball for matches providing that both teams agree beforehand.

All teams agree to play the game in the spirit intended and resolve to accept that the umpires’ decisions are final and should not be questioned under any circumstances. In line with this all teams should ensure that, wherever possible, they provide individuals to umpire who are of sufficient competence and familiar with the rules.

Wides - As in all forms of limited overs cricket any ball bowled down the leg side is deemed a wide. In the interests of fairness and to avoid contention captains are advised to remind their team of this at the start of the game.

No balls – All full tosses over waist height are no-balls irrespective of whether the ball is hit or not and bouncers over shoulder height, when the batsman takes a normal stance, should also be called as no balls. Either umpire may call and signal no ball.

In the event of a fielding side starting the game with less than eleven players, any player turning up late will not be allowed to bowl if 10 overs or more have been bowled.

All result sheets should be emailed to Dave Powell by the winning team as soon as possible after the game but by no later than one week after the date game was played. Any result not submitted within this timescale will be classed as not having been played and shall not count for points or in the season’s calculation.

If games are not played due to bad weather please inform Dave Powell by email so that he can amend the League or Shield/Plate tables accordingly.

Result sheets and reports should be with Dave Powell by the Friday after the game to ensure inclusion in the following week’s Echo report and more importantly to ensure that the League table is as up to date as possible when it is circulated to all team secretaries at regular intervals during the season.

End of season awards will be presented to the batsman and bowler with the best averages subject to them having played a minimum of 10 games (League and Shield/Plate games only: Cup games are not included in the calculation of player averages).

There will also be an award for the wicket keeper with the most number of dismissals during the season (again, excluding Cup matches). Please indicate wicket keeper dismissals on the back of each result form when it is submitted to Dave Powell ie: Team A wicket keeper: 1 dismissal, Team B wicket keeper: 2 dismissals.

COMPETITIONS
The format will comprise three competitions:

1. League
2. Shield/Plate
3. Cup

1. LEAGUE COMPETITION
- Teams play each other once alternating home advantage on an annual basis.
- Games comprise 20 overs with a maximum of 4 overs per bowler.
- Matches may comprise a reduced number of overs; in the event of rain affecting the number of overs that can be bowled, but this must be by mutual consent between the captains and both teams must have the same number of overs available to them.
- In the event of a tie for the League title, it will be decided in favour of the team that won the game played between the two teams. If this fixture was not played due to rain, then the team with the most number of wins is awarded the title. If both teams have the same number of wins, a play off shall be arranged to decide the title.
- Points system. 15 points are available per game: 10 for winning and 5 bonus points allocated between the two teams according to the relative closeness of the result (as shown in table below). If a game is tied, the points are shared equally (7.5 each).

- Positions will be decided on an average points system with win and bonus points divided by the number of games played to give a mean average to 2 decimal points.
- Matches cancelled due to bad weather will not be rearranged – no points will be awarded as the averaging system is used to determine positions.
- If a team fails to fulfil match due to lack of players the opposing team shall be awarded 15 points. The defaulting team receives no points but the game will count in averaging points over the course of the competition.

2. SHIELD/PLATE COMPETITIONS
- The Groups for the above competitions will be decided following the completion of the League Competition on the following basis:
- Positions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the final League table will make up the Shield Group and positions 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 will make up the Plate Group. (If there is an odd number of teams in the League, the Shield shall comprise one team more than the Plate.)
- Teams will play the other teams in their Group once in a mini league and the two Group winners will take the Shield and Plate titles respectively.
- Points are awarded as 2 for a win, 1 for a draw and 1 for a match cancelled/curtailed due to weather.
- Games comprise 18 overs with a maximum of 3 overs per bowler.
- In the event of a tie in one or both of the Groups, the Group winners will then be decided by the result between the two teams involved in the Shield/Plate competition. If this was also not played, then a calculation based on run rate in Shield/Plate matches will determine the winners.

3. CUP COMPETITION
- The Cup competition is played on a knockout basis.
- Unlike League and Shield/Plate games if Cup matches are cancelled due to bad weather they will need to be rearranged unless one team forfeits the game.
- Cup games comprise 18 overs with a maximum of 2 overs per bowler and a requirement for batsman to retire as soon as they have scored 40 runs. The batsman may resume his innings if all the other wickets have fallen. In the event of two batsmen being retired and needing to return, the return is done in scorecard order (not the order of retirement).
- If a team fields less than 11 players in a Cup match the opposing captain is entitled to choose which bowler(s) must bowl the extra overs if they have less than 9 people to bowl 2 overs each. For example, if a team has 8 players, once they have all bowled 2 overs each the opposing captain can choose the one who has conceded the most runs to bowl the extra 2 overs.
- A team may change its wicket-keeper once during the course of a match except due to injury and, the original wicket-keeper may then bowl a maximum of two overs.
- If a team cannot raise a side for a scheduled Cup match, the tie is awarded to the non-defaulting team.
- In the event of a tie in a Cup match the game will be decided by a bowl out (the number of wickets lost is NOT used to decide the winners). The bowl out is by overarm bowling and is administered as follows:

- A wicket is set at each end, the match ball is used for bowling
- Normal no-ball rules concerning feet and number of bounces before reaching the wicket shall apply.
- Team that batted first starts the bowl out, and then alternates between the two teams.
- Six players from each team bowl one delivery each.
- The team with the most number of wicket hits (ie. the bails are removed from the stumps) wins.
- If the bowl out is undecided after these 12 deliveries, the bowl out switches to a sudden death basis, with the remaining players from each side alternating. If required, the original 6 players who started the bowl out shall bowl again until one team has one more hit than the other once both teams have bowled the same number of times.

POLICY FOR ENSURING CUP GAMES ARE PLAYED ON TIME
If a Cup match cannot be played on its scheduled date it should be rearranged as soon as possible thereafter to ensure that the game is played by the date of the next round. If a Cup match is cancelled on two separate occasions due to bad weather and it cannot be played by the date of the next round then the tie should be decided on a toss of a coin. This is by no means ideal but otherwise games will not be played by the date of the next round.

Any disputes relating to the rearranging of Cup matches should be referred to the Chairman as soon as possible for a decision. If the dispute involves the Chairman’s club, then it is referred to the Fixture Secretary. If the dispute also involves the Fixture Secretary’s club, then it is referred to the Statistician.
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SUMMARY TABLE OF RULES FOR COMPETITIONS

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