Loan Players - week 17 and 18.

I have had a few queries about loan players, and how this works with rule 22c (which prohibits players from playing below their normal level in weeks 17 and 18).

This rule does not apply to loan players. Loan players can play for any team which they would be allowed to play for as a loan player in weeks 1-16.

Roll of Honour

Winsley 3/4 - Road Closure

Please be aware that the road between Winsley and Bath is closed for the next six weeks. Some teams playing away at Winsley 3/4 will need to take an alternative route.

Pitch Marks

The pitch marks for the first half of the season can now be downloaded.

ECB Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations

On Wednesday, you should have received notification from Wiltshire Cricket Ltd of the new ECB Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations. These include a number of changes, two of which are updates to content in the league rules. Specifically:
- The age at which players can play open age cricket has been adjusted, and is now based on their physical age, not their school year group.
- The number of overs a junior fast bowler can bowl in a spell has been changed to be based on the player's physical age, not their school year group. It has also been reduced in some cases. It is now:
Age 11 and below: 4 overs per spell, 8 overs per day.
Age 12 and 13: 5 overs per spell, 10 overs per day.
Age 14 and 15: 5 overs per spell, 12 overs per day.
Age 16 and 17: 6 overs per spell, 15 overs per day.
Age 18 and 19: 7 overs per spell, 18 overs per day.

These changes are ECB regulations and therefore must be followed, and supercede those in the league rules. These take effect immediately. I will be writing to captains and secretaries shortly to ensure they are aware of the above.

League Meetings

The 2025 Spring Meeting and AGM will both be held at Devizes Town Football Club. The Spring Meeting will be on Easter Monday, 21st April, and the AGM will be on Monday 24th November. Both will start at 19:45.

Umpire Qualifications 2025

ACO-Trained umpires. We previously said that to qualify as an ACO-Trained umpire, people who did the Introduction to Umpiring face-to-face course in 2024 would have to do all the CPDs in 2025. However, due to each CPD only being available once prior to the season starting, we have decided to reduce this. The requirement is therefore that to be an ACO-Trained umpire for 2025, you must have done the Introduction to Umpiring Course, and have attended at least two CPDs. Anybody who achieved the status of ACO-Trained umpire in 2023 or earlier, retains that status.

Forum-Trained umpires. Following the withdrawal of the online Stage One course, the league have decided to return to holding in-person Forum Training. This will take place in April. Venues and Dates will be announced in due course. Anybody who is already forum-trained will remain so.

Minor reorganisation, Divisions 7-10 after 2025 season

The league is growing quickly. We have had 29 new teams join the league in the last 5 years. 18 of those teams have been too strong to initially play in Division 10. The number of new teams coming into the league is well in excess of the number of gaps we can create to accommodate them at the correct level. Thus we now have a number of teams playing in too low a division. The number of teams in this position is such that normal promotion will not resolve the problem, plus we are likely to have more such teams apply to join the league in 2026.

Therefore, as stated at the AGM, there will be a minor reorganisation of Divisions 7-10 at the end of the 2025 season. Quite simply, we will take the teams who will play in Divisions 7-10 in 2026, and based on their 2025 results and the division they were playing in, we will put the strongest 10 teams into Division 7, the next 10 into Division 8, etc. This means it is likely that more than 2 teams will be relegated from each of these divisions. Obviously the decision as to which teams go into which division will be subjective, and won't be an easy decision for the committee to make. But our aim will be to get everybody playing teams who are at about their level.

Change of Teams and Fixtures, Division 4 and 5

Following a discussion at the AGM, Beehive Southwick have dropped from Division 4 to 5, and Avebury 2 have moved up from Division 5 to 4. This has caused the fixtures for these teams to change, and also for Coastal Cobras (Div 4) and Heytesbury & Sutton Veny (Div 5). All club secretaries and fixture secretaries have been informed, and the fixtures on this website have been updated.