Surrey Championship AGM – Player Views Needed, Please!

A reminder of the upcoming Surrey Championship AGM on the 22nd January 2018, at Wimbledon Cricket Club. All clubs are expected to be represented. The proposed rule changes are in this link: http://www.stokecc.co.uk/2017/12/24/surrey-championship-agm-proposed-rule-changes-affecting-the-1s-and-2s/

One topic to be added to the agenda is that the League are proposing to debate the introduction of the Duckworth-Lewis, (DL), system for rain-affected limited overs matches, throughout the entire league. If accepted, then all clubs, (except those Tier One clubs using Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS)), will use the DL system within the Play-Cricket Scorer App(*) instead of the old rules around calculating the required runs. This proposal stems from the discussion had at council around the clear dislike of Tier 2 & 3 playing conditions which currently apply when rain interrupts limited overs matches and which require the team batting first to receive its full quota of overs. There appeared to be an appetite for an extension of DL which is what the League has investigated.

This would be a big change for the League and would affect all clubs in the Championship. The League are proposing to scrap the existing rules and to replace them with the requirement for all clubs to use the same DL app, (by Tier.)

From this, of course, are implications that all clubs should be aware of, and may wish to discuss internally, before the AGM:

1. There will need to be someone at each Limited Overs game with access to the Play-Cricket Scorer app – it is not necessary to score the game to use DL nor does the device need to have data connectivity to use the DL calculator. Most phones or tablets will be able to run the software – and it could be a player/umpire or scorer.
2. If the app was not accessible for any reason during a rain-affected match there will be no other rules to cover the rain-affected part of the game, and therefore the game will have to be abandoned.
As an aside if the game was fully scored on the Play-Cricket Scorer app, the DL calculation can be run more even more quickly, and the full scorecard can be uploaded directly from the ground after the game – or if offline, when you are in data/wifi range later – saving considerable time after the match. Clubs will need to validate the entry has successfully uploaded ahead of the 10am deadline.

The League believes adopting technology in full would be a major benefit to all clubs – it will speed up the entry of results and scorecards to Play-Cricket and thereby could substantially reduce the fines levied across the Championship for persistent failure. But the League are fully aware that this will require clubs to commit to using new technology available.

(*) the League hopes the recently announced laptop scoring app from the ECB will further support this proposal and they will share as soon as we have any detail on this.

Can all players who expect to play League cricket for us this year read the attached, (http://www.stokecc.co.uk/2017/12/24/surrey-championship-agm-proposed-rule-changes-affecting-the-1s-and-2s/), and forward comments to stokecc@hotmail.com ahead of the AGM.