Blog

SUMMARY

The purpose of these guidelines is to offer practical guidance to players and clubs on the

steps they should take to remain safe whilst undertaking exercise in an outdoor cricket

club environment.

These guidelines currently apply to England only. Lockdown restrictions remain in place

in Wales with a review due to take place on 28 May 2020.

These guidelines have been produced in line with the UK Government guidance on public

spaces, outdoor activity and exercise published on 11 May 2020, which can be read

here. Supporting guidance published on 13 May 2020 can be found here.

All activity should be consistent with the Government guidance regarding health, social

distancing and hygiene.

In ‘Our Plan to Rebuild’, the UK Government stated that team sports should not be

played outside of a household.

ECB maintains the position that all recreational cricket remains suspended until

further notice, with the sole exception of the use of outdoor cricket facilities (nets and

pitches) for the purpose of undertaking exercise as set out in our detailed guidance

document.

Our primary and ongoing goal is to protect the health of everyone in and around the

game. The adjusted lockdown restrictions provide an opportunity for the use of outdoor cricket

facilities (nets and pitches) for the purpose of undertaking exercise.

In summary:

1. You can exercise outdoors on your own, with members of your household or with

one other person from outside your household while keeping two metres apart at

all times. You must only exercise in groups of no more than two people, unless

you are exercising exclusively with members of your household.

2. Social distancing of at least two metres must be maintained at all times

(unless all participants are members of the same household).

3. Only one-to-one coaching is permitted per session.
4. Nets should be used on an ‘every other’ basis, leaving one net free between nets.
5. Clubhouses can be reopened in a limited way for operational reasons (e.g. for

access to first aid equipment) or for toilet access (see below) but all communal

areas including bar, changing rooms etc are to remain closed for general use.

6. Toilet facilities can be opened if the venue wishes, but particular care should be

taken by those using them and those cleaning them. Where they are open,venues must ensure soap and water is provided.

7. No indoor activity at all.
8. We recommend using your own equipment if possible. If equipment is being shared, please follow UK Government’s guidance on the sharing of equipment.

9. No saliva or sweat should come into contact with the ball at any time.
10. Wash hands at home before and after using the outdoor facilities. Bring your own hand sanitiser where possible.

Uley were away this week to Tormarton on a glorious Saturday afternoon at the Old Wheatfield ground.

Having won the toss, Uley batted first and quickly lost two early wicket with Viv Menon caught at square leg for 0 and Pierre Bell caught behind for 18. A small partnership then developed between Dylan Williams and the injured Brendan Hughes, batting through back spasms. Williams’ dismissal for 21 brought a tumble of wickets until a 7th wicket partnership between Tom williams and Hughes who steadily and methodically rebuilt followed by some boundary hitting towards the end and which was only ended in the final over when Williams departed for a well made 36. Hughes finished unbeaten on 70 with Uley recovering to a creditable 169 for 7 of their 40 overs. Durham and Bose were the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 33 and 3 for 44 respectively off their 10 overs.

In response, the Tormarton openers, Leeworthy and Walters started patiently, putting away loose deliveries and accumulating off the opening bowlers Tom Williams (7-1-31-0) and Dylan Williams (10-0-31-0). Backed by some excellent fielding from Uley, Pierre Bell at first change created problems with the ball turning sharply and was rewarded with the two wickets of Leeworthy and captain Jim Fannon, both clean bowled to finish with 10-3-34-2.

Liam Neale bowled a tight spell of 5-0-26-0 in his first game of the year but Walters (78 not out) and Merchant (20 not out) ensured victory for Tormarton with two overs to spare.

It’s now only two weeks until Uley Cricket Clubs All Stars cricket programme launches and amazingly the club have 39 children booked to take part!

The 2017 programme was a huge success with 31 children taking part and completing the course, which received great feedback inside and outside the village and cricketing circles, for a club Uley’s size to attract 31 children was one of the success stories of the programme up and down the country.

The take up has been such that the club have had to train two more activators, Barney Wilson and Ben Guy who both play for the club have joined last year activators Sean Sage, Brendan Hughes and Pierre Bell, who is the first team captain and a qualified coach.

The programme consists of 8 fun packed sessions where the children practice catching, fielding, batting and also taking part in games at the end of each session, each child that takes part gets an amazing kit bag with a shirt with their name on.

At Uley after each session the children get a light lunch to recharge the batteries!

There is still time to sign up at https://ecb.clubspark.uk/AllStars/Course/a7c34b15-4b62-4466-b7c1-2c0082c4ffe9, the programme starts on June 2^nd 2018 at Shadwell playing fields.

If you have any further questions please email seansage@outlook.com

 

Uley played away at Eastcombe on Saturday off the back of a heavy defeat to Whitminster, with opponents Eastcombe having won their first game.

Uley opted to bowl first and started solidly, with debutant Steve Williams bowling well and rewarded with a first wicket for the club. Sean Sage (10-0-47-0) bowled a tight opening spell at the other end whilst Eastcombe accumulated steadily. The fall of the second wicket brought James Maxwell to the crease for his first game in 15 years, and he proceeded to dispatch the Uley bowling to all parts with a magnificent 109 off only 44 balls. Pierre Bell (10-0-53-2) and Steve Large (5-0-45-2) chipped in with wickets but some solid late order batting from Eastcombe swelled the score to 315 for 6 off their 40 overs.

With victory never realistic, Uley started steadily with Bell punishing anything loose. Bell was joined by Simon Camm after two quick early wickets from Westley (6-2-10-2) and his clean hitting kept the scoreboard ticking regularly in a big stand with Bell in the middle overs. Bell was eventually caught behind for 57 off the accurate bowling of Gee (7-2-26-3), and Burger (4-0-19-3) removed Camm caught at point for 64. Gee and Burger then finished off the innings with Uley all out for 155, a long way off victory but with some valuable points in the bag.

For the first game of the year Uley were up against Whitminster firsts away at Whitminster playing fields.

Having being put in to bat, Uley got off to a fast start after a wayward first over of the season from James Wardley, but Whitminster soon tightened things up. Jason Owens in particular bowled a canny spell of seam and was rewarded by the wicket of Brendan Hughes, brilliantly caught in the gully by Jack Price for 4. Pierre Bell and Henry Pritchard battled through some accurate bowling before Pritchard was caught at backward point. Pars Ghadiali came on to bowl a miserly spell of 10-5-16-3 including starting with 5 maidens on the spin. Wickets continued to fall regularly with only Steve Large making an inventive 18  staying around for any length of time. Pierre Bell fell caught behind to Joe McGoldrick for a patient 44 and the tail folded quickly to Robbie Helliwell to leave Uley all out for 101.

 

In reply, Whitminster started briskly with Matt Clutterbuck in particular taking a heavy toll on anything loose. Sean Sage bowled a probing opening spell of 6-1-25-0 and there were creditable debut performances from Charlie Gladding and Steve Winchester who was rewarded by bowling Clutterbuck for 49.

Whitminster cantered home in 15 overs with captain Lewis Cook unbeaten on 35 to win by 9 wickets.

Summary of the key changes
There are still 42 Laws, although two previous Laws have been deleted, with two
additions. The significant changes are:
• The new Code of Laws is written in language applying to all persons, regardless
of gender. The new Code includes an increased use of generic nouns like ‘fielder’
and ‘bowler’ and uses ‘he/she’ when required, together with a broadened
disclaimer covering all genders. The term ‘batsman’ remains, however.
• The Handled the ball Law has been deleted, with its contents merged into
Obstructing the field, reducing the list of dismissals from ten to nine. This
will have no effect on whether a batsman is dismissed; rather, it is just the
method of dismissal that might be changed.
• The Lost ball Law has been deleted and is now covered under Dead ball.
• The old Law 2 has been divided into two separate Laws, relating to the
batsmen (Law 25) and the fielders (Law 24). These Laws have changed the
concept of Penalty time, which starts to accrue immediately when a player
leaves the field and which will also now affect when the player may bat.
• Law 5 (The Bat) places limits on the thickness of the edges and the overall
depth of the bat. The maximum dimensions will be 108mm in width
(unchanged), 67mm in depth with 40mm edges.
• Law 8.4 has been changed, to help prevent injuries, to allow specially designed
mechanisms which tether the bails to the stumps, thereby restricting the distance
that they can fly off the stumps but without limiting their ability to be dislodged.
• Law 24 (Fielders’ absence; substitutes) now allows a substitute to keep
wicket, with the consent of the umpires.
• Law 30 (Batsman out of his/her ground) has been amended to give protection
to a running or diving batsman whose bat bounces up after having been
grounded beyond the popping crease.
• Law 41.8 now covers the bowling of deliberate front foot No balls, which
will result in the bowler being suspended from bowling.
• Law 41.15 now prevents the batsman from taking stance in a position where
he/she will inevitably encroach on the protected area.
• Law 41.16 has changed so that the non-striker risks being Run out if he/she leaves
his/her ground before the bowler would normally be expected to release the ball.
• Law 42 (Player Conduct) is a new Law which gives an in-match consequence
for poor on-field behaviour including, for the most