MAIN POINTS

Cherry Willingham and Alford were duly promoted to the Lincolnshire League premier division at last night's AGM in Market Rasen, which went on for well over two hours. "Two up, two down" applies in all divisions, in line with what everyone was expecting.
The digital scoring system was adopted in full. Much more on that later...
I didn't help speed things along with a lengthy report. Should have taken along the right glasses, or used bigger print. As a result it proved very hard to read. Sorry!
However, we'd already been to Specsavers and collect a new pair of varifocals next week.

Lincolnshire County Cricket League results secretary Nigel Fisher’s report delivered to the annual general meeting in Market Rasen on Wednesday, October 13, 2010.

As results secretary I would like to thank all clubs present for a generally very high standard of efficiency when phoning through results and submitting scoresheets this season. Hundreds have been received across our five divisions without problem or delay. Only a small number caused me any concern and they generally coincided with the regular person being away – perhaps on holiday.
However, I would like to remind all clubs that when a game is called off due to bad weather without a ball being bowled, you still need to phone that information through to the league, as well as informing the relevant umpires’ association.
My thanks go to fixture secretary Glen Sands and statistician Andy Sharp for checking and double-checking the information I collate each week from your messages and scoresheets.
Your reaction to the rule change proposals we will consider shortly decides whether the 2010 season proved to be our last using paper scoresheets and registration forms.
Filling in the scoresheet after the match may have been around in local cricket even longer than our chairman, but the procedure has served us very well. However, there’s no escaping the fact that every year sees more and more leagues up and down the country – and many not of our standing – moving over to the ECB’s internet-based Play Cricket system.
Should our league decide tonight that we are going to endorse Play Cricket at the expense of scoresheets and registration forms, I will suggest an agenda item on this topic at our next meeting in January, just to ensure everyone knows what they have to do – and when.
However, if we decide to take the digital route, the ECB has things in place so our clubs can begin work online, such as player registrations, immediately.
It would be a task for your officers to upload the 2011 fixtures – once compiled – and to make the necessary adjustments to the points scoring system, over which I have already had re-assuring talks with the website boffins at the ECB.
Should you decide to endorse Play Cricket tonight, I’m sure the members of our Working Party on Results and Registrations will be happy to offer advice. They are Graham Hackney, Cleethorpes; Danny Bullock and Mark Atkins, Haxey; Mick Barton, Stamford Homes; myself and Andy, your statistician. Help and advice is also available online, courtesy of the ECB.
Should tonight’s meeting take that route, we intend to produce a written list of instructions for clubs, explaining what you will be required to do – and when. This can be emailed to clubs, printed prominently in the 2011 Handbook and uploaded to our Lincs League Play Cricket website for reference.
I would like to stress that even if we adopt the digital system of handling results, clubs will still be required to phone the basic scores through after every game.
And finally … on behalf of our league, and whatever you decide tonight about results and registrations, I would like to thank the volunteer members of the Working Party for their time and input over recent months, culminating in a thorough report on this topic and rule change proposals.