CHECK BEFORE YOU WATER GROUNDS

At last night's Lincolnshire County Cricket League pre-season meeting in Market Rasen, chairman Bob Welton (above) advised all clubs to check with their local water company before undertaking any watering of grounds, in view of the hosepipe ban.
Bob said it was much better to check with the company before watering than to undertake the task and discover some person, perhaps living nearby, had spotted what was going on and reported it to the authorities.
The chairman made reference to watering of sportsgrounds for health and safety reasons and pointed out to club delegates that Martin Deans, of the groundsmen's association, had posted online advice on the topic.

MONEY FOR OLD ROPE? Graham Hackney told the meeting that Cleethorpes CC now had a boundary rope available to any club that was interested.

CRIME VICTIMS: South Kelsey and Morton both reported suffering at the hands of unwanted visitors to their grounds. A sad sign of the times we live in!

RESULTS: "Yours truly" reminded clubs that it's still a requirement to call 01652 655134 after the game to report the scores on the doors. Just as important - the "year's grace" has now ended (no fines were imposed for online results last year as it was our first season in the digital age). Most clubs were efficient in 2011 so we don't expect many problems this time. But please ensure you stick to the deadlines applying to home and away matches, when it comes to supply information.

LEAGUE TABLES: Glen Sands will continue to compile Lincs League tables every Sunday and email them to clubs who've requested them. These also go to the local Press. Glen's tables will be the official tables. Play Cricket will generate its own, based on the points fed in, and all clubs are asked to check the online tables carefully and report to the league any errors spotted.  Come the end of the season, the league will be able to report on the accuracy of the online tables.

REGISTRATIONS: It's 10am Thursday 19th and I've just been into the management console of the Lincolnshire League's Play Cricket site and approved 20-plus further registrations. Please don't leave registrations to the very last minute. I recall being in London this time last year, taking a weekend family break, and having to log on to son-in-law's computer to deal with some player registrations that came through on the Saturday morning when the season began.

50th ANNIVERSARY: Having started in 1963, the Lincolnshire League is approaching its half-century and clubs were asked, some time ago, to come up with ideas on how they wanted the league to celebrate the major milestone. Not a single thought or observation was passed to the league, which chairman Bob said he found disappointing. He's now suggesting a month's further period of consultation. Ideas put forward "from the floor" last night included an exhibition of memorabilia/old pictures, a special game (perhaps including players of the past or a League Select X1) and a celebratory dinner.

More snippets to follow from the pre-season meeting when we get a minute!