Cricket confusion on promotion rules

There’s been a rather telling silence from the Devon Cricket League over the ‘who’s-going-up-and-down?’ muddle which is casting a shadow over the competition (writes Dave Thomas).

In fairness, the League is filling the role of pretty reluctant messenger between the English Cricket Board and their own clubs. It’s all over the ECB’s insistence that all Premier Division sides must operate Youth sections.

Existing Premier clubs have until next June to conform or they are threatened with relegation, no matter where they finish next season.

But the issue which has crystallised things now is that Kilmington, who recently finished in the second ‘A’ Division promotion place behind Exeter, don’t currently have a Colts set-up. So they’re being prevented from completing a remarkable rise from essentially ‘village’ status to Premier level.

Unlike current Premier Division clubs, they are not being given until next June to meet the ECB criteria, which is one of the reasons why they appealed.

Torquay, who finished behind Kilmington in third place, also don’t have a functioning Youth section. But, for their own reasons, they have not wished to be promoted in Kilmington’s place.

In fact, League rules do state that Premier clubs must have ECB ‘Clubmark’ accreditation. But Clubmark status does not actually demand a Youth section. It wasn’t until an ECB meeting of league representatives a matter of weeks before the end of the season that the ruling body reminded competitions about the Youth section rule and insisted that they be applied forthwith.

Had clubs been playing all summer knowing that many of them COULDN’T be promoted? It seems not. Well done if you’re still with us, by the way – these red-tape affairs are seldom straightforward.

But casting another cloud over the whole business is that Bovey Tracey, who finished one-from-bottom in the Premier and were relegated, are believed to be embroiled in a dispute of their own about the validity of the visa under which Australian bowler Alex Bevilaqua played for them last season.

If any faulty paperwork is found to be inadvertent, Bovey (they have a healthy Colts section, by the way) could be kept up in Kilmington’s ‘place’. If not, they face a possible points-deduction which might reprieve North Devon, who finished bottom. It would help the League greatly to have a ruling on the Bovey problem as soon as possible.

But as things stand, no one really knows which or how many clubs are going up or down. But all this isn’t just about rules and regulations. It’s about how they are applied. It was the strictness of the ECB’s stance which sparked the Devon League situation. And, incidentally, they’re not the only league affected.

You can argue that it’s a reasonable aim for all Premier clubs to run Colts sides. After all, they probably should be leading the development of young players. But, at a time when club cricket is still in recovery-mode after two years blighted by the Covid pandemic and many sides are grappling with serious manpower problems, is it helpful to impose such rules and regulations so stringently? And what message does it send to smaller, but progressive clubs who might not have the catchment areas which ‘town’ clubs enjoy?

In another much-loved national sport, only last winter the Rugby Football Union tried to lower the permitted tackle-height from chest to beneath the waist for all except top clubs, and told everyone it would start this season.

The uproar was so great that the RFU was forced into a rapid and humiliating climbdown, and a rethink which eventually settled for ‘sternum-height’ tackling. It wasn’t so much the RFU’s action which infuriated everyone – efforts to reduce head contact and concussions are widely supported – but it was the way they went about it.

The RFU was seen as out of touch with its own grass-roots game, with its credibility and authority weakened as a result. Many in club cricket feel that the ECB is in danger of heading down the same worrying route, if it isn’t already on the way. A spot of informed reflection and some better consultation might help everyone...