Alliance Midweek Cricket League Handbook 2010

LEVEL ON POINTS! When Tom Collins agreed to take over the posi6on of Publicity Officer at the 2009 Annual General Mee6ng, no one would have known about the turn for the worse that he drama6cally took just as the season got underway. Sadly, Tom passed away in July last year without really ge8ng into the job. Mark Simmerson kindly took over the mantle of report writer for the local press for the vast majority of the season and has agreed to take on the Publicity Officer role from this year. Hopefully, for the third year running, I will be able to relinquish wri6ng this column! Sadly for Tom, he was never able to report on the closest League Title contest for 13 years. Sadly for Mark, he wasn’t able to report on it either thanks to some quite appalling result submissions during the season which meant that it was some four weeks a&er the comple6on of the season before we were able to confirm the final league tables. That table saw A7ock win an eighth successive league 6tle on runs difference to Caribbean. The publicity we could have got for the League (and our sponsors) from this 6ght contest could have been vast to rival that of the last 6ed contest between Bents Green and Norton Oakes in 1996 (when over 500 people turned up at Oakes Park on a barmy sunny evening - remember those? - for a final match show down between the two). In the end, that 6tle was shared but not this year with A7ock running out winners. Sheffield Waterworks were also narrow winners of Division A, by just one point from Frecheville Community, but it could have easily swung the other way if Frecheville had taken the points in one of our featured games just before the end of the season. Waterworks’ decision not to compete in the Premier Division means that only Frecheville are promoted. Nar Mando took the Division B 6tle whilst the Division C 6tle was also 6ed before Richmond took the trophy on runs difference from Woodhouse. However, this division proved also the merits of ensuring clubs fulfil all fixtures with Norton Oakes going unbeaten through the season save for a game that they failed to raise a side for on the evening of the European Cup Final. The three points they had deducted as a result would have been enough for them to have won the League, even if they had turned out with seven players and got stuffed! Consequently, they were two points short but s6ll gained promo6on in third place. The weather was once again very influen6al on the number of games played with 35% of fixtures throughout the league being postponed. In the Premier Division this was actually 43%. With so many games postponed, it was surprising to see all but one of the Presiden6al Awards have enough qualifiers. However, when combined with the number of result sheets problems already men6oned, there were probably others who did qualify and I am aware of at least one player who lost an award through this. For the first 6me in 2010, clubs who persistently failed to submit or incorrectly submit results will have points deducted. This is the first 6me in the Leagues 82 year history that points earned on the field have been deducted due to misdemeanors off the field but unfortunately it has got to such a stage that clubs have to realise the importance of dealing with off field ma7ers can be as important 22 2009 Review