League's new web site launched

The old one has been ditched after five seasons in favour of an ECB Play-Cricket site which can be updated automatically by scorers using an iPad or laptop.

A demonstration of the site was given by Oxenhope’s Keith Yates. League chairman Anthony Briggs said it would be a huge improvement on the old site which had become unfit for purpose.

While Lancashire League club Norden depart the Sunday League after 25 years, Huddersfield League club Golcar are keen to join.

Their representative Rob Dyson said his club ran five junior teams and they wanted their young players to have the opportunity to bridge the gap between junior and senior level at a suitable standard.

Briggs said it reflected well on the league that clubs from outside the area wanted to join the Sunday League.

He also said that league officials had been to Cullingworth CC and had “positive discussions” after the club’s troubled 2018 season.

Cullingworth and Greetland are up for re-election at next month’s league AGM and representatives from both clubs said they were keen to revive their junior sections in an effort to restore their second teams.

The 2019 season will start on April 20 - Easter Saturday - after a 16-14 email vote in favour of that date rather than the following Saturday.

However, league officials are keen that teams should finish the season on the same date, to align the Lindley Moor and Clay Trophy competitions for most points in the last six matches, so teams with fewer than 22 fixtures could start later anyway.

There was a plea from league secretary Tim Helliwell to clubs who might be struggling to raise second or third teams for 2019 to get in touch with league officials as soon as possible.

The league will be switching to a Reader ball for matches next year after trials in middle-section games this summer. An initial one-year deal has been agreed with the cost of the balls to be announced later.

There will be a new award presented at next month’s annual dinner at The Venue, Barkisland on Friday, November 30, when ex-England player Phillip DeFreitas will be the guest speaker.

The H Robinson Trophy, formerly awarded in the now-defunct Huddersfield Central League, will be for the most improved ground and judged by the grounds committee from a shortlist of three.

Top division clubs are to be sounded out about their willingness to take part in a late-season Yorkshire Council Cup competition on Sundays.

It would probably involve the sides in first and second places in the Premier at a cut-off date, possibly the end of August.

Nineteen rule change proposals were seconded ahead of an electronic vote prior to the AGM at Pellon Social Club on Tuesday, November 20.

They include reducing matches to 40 overs per side and introducing a 12 or 14 overs limit per bowler.