Lancashire League Handbook 2017

21 Barry Evans continued for another season as appointments secretary and he’s already got his diary ready for 2017, thanks Barry, we really do appreciate your efforts. The Lancashire Knockout fixed dates mean that we are competing on a more even playing field but it means we have more Saturday fixtures and finding umpires will be difficult so be ready for the calls. Ideally, we would like each Club to have someone on standby but we understand the demand for helpers on match days makes this hard. If players who no longer play took up the white coats and realised that it’s the next best thing to playing I’m sure we would have a rich vein of talent to call upon. The Captains reports on Umpires performances form the basis of the award of the Wally Ashley Shield and the Harry Saul Trophy and these have again been collated by our Deputy Chairman Mr Peter West which helps my workload greatly during the season. The Lancashire League Umpiring panel seems to get stronger every year and this is reflected in the standards achieved. Last year we had 15 umpires achieving over 90%, this year we had 20. The top 7 all had over 95% and top 3 over 97% again. The top three dropped only 9, 18 and 19 points over the whole season. In second place with 98.42% and fully deserved of his appointment to the LCB Knockout final we have Ken Fergusson. But the winner of the Harry Saul trophy went to an Umpire who was appointed to the Minor Counties Panel and has a bright umpiring future ahead of him, with a score of 98.75%, dropping only 9 marks all season, Naeem Ashraf. There are 4 awards to Clubs which are adjudged by the umpire’s. These are best 1st team scoreboard, best tea room, sportsmanship and the captain’s award. Jack Bottomley our Assistant Secretary collates the marks, again another greatly appreciated help to me. Thanks Jack. This year’s scoreboard award was a close run thing. There was only half a percentage mark between 4th and 7th. There was a tie for second place with two teams on 98.2%, Rishton and Enfield. But this year in top place with a full house, 100% was Ramsbottom.