There was an excellent 'full-house'
attendance at the recent 2008 pre-season meeting of CCUA umpires,
with the Chairman giving a special welcome
to a number of new members that attended.
The main item was a talk and PowerPoint
presentation given by John Shepley - Cornwall County Pitch
Advisor, to explain the new 'Grounds
Marking' assessment criteria as being adopted this season in the
Premier and County One leagues
It does not apply in Division 2 this summer. Those present were given
a copy of 'Grounds
Marking - A guide for panel umpires' and supply of 'Ground
Report' assessment
cards for confidential completion by the
match umpires and posting to Del Codd - Chairman of Grounds
Committee. (Clickon above underlined titled to download copy)
John Middleton also gave a short
refresher talk on the CCL applied 'leg-side WIDE ball' ruling and
that of Umpire 'Positioning &
Movement' which are the most commonly registered complaints from the
team captains. The former
is explained, with an illustration, under CCL Premier (18.13) and County One
(19.3) rulings - this can be accessed from
above 'CCL Rules' page. Some useful tips and hints to
help
improve one's field-craft skills can be
found in a recently produced 'Welcome to the CCUA' booklet for
new members. This can be viewed or
copied from 'download' section at top of 'Home' page.
Richard
Walker referred to issues of ACU&S Special General Meeting. See report
below.
Important Match Playing Notices
Match
balls
For 2008,the
Oxbridge BUCKINGHAM cricket ball is to be used in both Premier
and County One,
and Oxbridge BLENHEIM for Division 2 East
& West matches.
Cancellation of fixtures: Right of
'Away' side to travel and inspect the ground
When, in
the event of the away side deciding to travel to inspect a ground, as permitted
under 18.4.3
and 20.3.2, it shall be the attending
umpires who now make the on-site decision regard the playing of
the match.
Bowling Rate: 17 overs per hour
At the last CCL AGM, County One clubs
again rejected adoption of same bowling over rate
condition as applies in the Premier league.
Panel umpires must still report teams that fail to meet
average bowling rate of 17 overs per hour
in County One matches. They are further informed to be
prepared to implement Laws 42.9 - Time
wasting by the fielding side and/or 42.10 - Time wasting by
the batsmen, when concerned by slow
progress of match play.
Reporting of Discipline matters
For reporting of Level 1 incidents as
occurring in Premier and County One matches, these to be
reported on the Match Report sheet.
For ALL other level offences committed in
Premier and County One matches andALL reportable
offences as occurring in other league
matches (ie Division 2E & 2W) and other competitions (ie Hawkey
& Vinter Cups), these to be reported by
completion of the official CCUA Report form. Copies available
from CCUA Secretary or 'download' section at top of
'Home' page.
Leg-side 'Wide' balls
There is no change in this ruling from
last season. However, the definition ruling and pictorial
illustration, as referred on our 'CCL
Rules' page, must always be fully adhered. This applies to the
Premier & County One matches only and notwithin other lower divisions, whereby Law 25 of the MCC
'Laws of Cricket' shall be followed.
Please pass on above information to colleagues who are
standing with you at
first few matches, in case of them not having internet access to this website
Local
Business
Sponsorship support for
CCUA Umpire
Induction Training
initiative
Andrew Harvey - MD of 'The Financial Advice Centre' and
Tim Marrion on behalf of 'Sportsmatch' making cheque
presentations to
CCUA President, John Ford, and Chairman,
Bert Bennett.
The Cornwall
Cricket Umpires Association is
pleased to announce sponsorship
support of
The Financial Advice Centreto their umpire training
programme and delivery of a new series
of countywide induction sessions
aimed at encouraging more volunteers
to come forward to
qualify and offer their service to
local cricket. Sportsmatch,
the government’s business
sponsorship incentive scheme for
grass roots sport, is also
contributing match funding to the
initiative.
Malcolm Roberts, CCUA project
co-ordinator commented “We are truly
indebted to the FAC
for their generous donation and
support to our cricket officials’
organisation. There is an
increasing national shortage of
match officials in club cricket,
with our own association having
seen its number of active panel
umpires falling alarmingly from
about seventy, back in 1986, to
less than half that figure at
the present time. Last summer, only
Premier and County One league
clubs could rely on the regular
presence of CCUA panel umpires to
officiate their matches, but
that may not be guaranteed in the
future if the current trend of falling
numbers continues. Most
clubs
outside of the ‘higher tier’ are
having to call on ‘non-active’
players from the batting team
to
take turns in role of umpires, which
is far from ideal! – Just imagine in
football, subs on the
‘bench‘ being expected to do short
stints as referee in order for
matches to be played!
Without properly trained and
impartial officials in sport and in
cricket, that means proper
umpires, one cannot play a fair and
proper game!”
Andrew Harvey,
the Managing Director of FAC, with
offices in Par, St. Austell,
Liskeard and
Bodmin, said “As a small but
expanding local business, we are
most pleased to support the
CCUA in their recruitment and
training programme. We wish them
success in attracting more
match officials whose role and
contribution to the playing of any
competitive sport is crucial.”
Malcolm further stated “The CCUA is
proactive in its drive to recruit
more match officials and
these awards will support the taking
of an induction training Roadshow to
each of the six
county district areas during the
winter months for budding umpires,
both young and mature of
age, to attend.
However, they cannot conduct such
recruitment campaign alone and some
onus must rest with the league
management to consider setting of
stricter rulings requiring
affiliated clubs to provide umpires
at higher and immediate tiers of
Cornwall league cricket.
Also, with clubs to encourage,
cajole ex-players, parents of youth
members and others from
within their local communities to
attain initial training courses and
qualify as competent
club umpires.
The sponsor’s donation will also
support the training of a couple of
extra Umpire instructors
to assist with the delivery of new
initiative programme and further
training qualification courses,
whilst the Sportsmatch award will
fund the purchase of presentation
equipment and materials,
as well as new style CCUA umpire
blouson jackets that will carry
sponsor advertising.
The dates and locations of district
based induction sessions has still
to be finalised and will
be announced in due course on CCUA
and CCL websites and in local
press”.
Information:
Sportsmatch
is the government’s business
sponsorship incentive scheme for
grass roots
sport. It is funded by
Department for Culture Media & Sport
through Sport England
and
administered by the Institute of Sports
Sponsorship. Sportsmatch matches
commercial investment in approved community sports development
programmes and
since 1992 has
encouraged around 5,000 companies to sponsor grass
roots sporting activities.
The
Financial Advice Centre
is an expanding local Cornish based
business with main office
in Par and other high street
branches in Bodmin, Liskeard and St.
Austell. Their highly
professional and experienced advisers are
there to offer independent financial
advice on
selection of right mortgage and other investment
planning needs to safeguard a secure
financial future.
For more information on FAC please
call 01726 814935 or visit
www.ifaplus.com
CCUA Chairman, President and Secretary enjoying a lighter
moment of proceedings!
Some twenty-seven members attended the November AGM with our President and Chairman
in their
reports once again thanking colleagues for excellent job they
did on the field last summer.
Also, to the management committee for their sterling work with
particular gratitude expressed to
Richard Walker, Ron Fenton, Vic Hassell, John Middleton and Malcolm
Roberts for their
contributions during the past year.
All standing officials were re-elected
for a further term of office on the
management committee
with Andy Watts
elected and welcomed to the
committee as the new ACU&S representative,
taking over
from John Middleton, who stood down.
There was much positive and praiseworthy comments conveyed by the
President and Chairman
in their
annual reports, although some concerns for uncertainty of what the
future holds, particularly
regarding
that of ACU&S and merger intent of ECB to control everything related
to cricket in
this country.
The new tariff system to deal with code of conduct breaches and
umpire assessment by the
captains were
smoothly and successfully introduced last season with panel umpires
thanked for
their
co-operation. Also, a return to the confidential 'Ground
Marking' cards was much favoured
and
additional payments to umpires who exceeded travelling distance
of 35 miles to matches
has been
accepted as a fairer system than previous fixed sum payments.
Our Treasurer, Ron
Fenton, was
thanked for his time in managing its successful
implementation.
The meeting approved three proposals as placed before it, namely:-
All to take place at Truro C.C.
commencing at 7.30pm
Members are requested to make every effort to attend the Full
members meetings, with
talks and
presentations to take place and opportunities for members to register
views
of support or objection to issues
under discussion.
