WORKING PARTY ON UNDER-13 PLAYERS IN LINCS LEAGUE

The Lincolnshire County Cricket League is establishing a working party to look at drafting a rule change for consideration at next year's AGM (Octobe 2013) to remove the current restriction barring U13 age group category players from batting and bowling (they can only field).
This follows yet another rule change proposal being presented and failing to gain sufficient support.
At Wednesday's 2012 AGM in Market Rasen, Cleethorpes put forward a proposal to remove the batting and bowling restrictions and replace them with the ECB guidelines for junior players in open age cricket.
The discussion involving club delegates, league officials and umpires' reps followed a now familiar format: 
Those in favour of change - led by Cleethorpes and Grimsby Town - pointed out that U13 players can bat and bowl at ECB level for their first teams but not for lower X1s in the Lincs League. The intention of their rule change was for Level 2 coaches to identify talented young players able to hold their own in Lincs League games, with parental consent also needed.
However, there were concerns voiced at the AGM over how this might be applied in practice to ensure the match umpires were 100 per cent certain those steps had been followed. It was, after all, only GUIDANCE from the ECB and not a DIRECTIVE.
It was also pointed out that the Lincs League has five divisions comprising clubs, teams and players of varying standards, unlike ECB competitions which are solely for 1st X1s.
So, for 2013 at least, the current rule remains in force: U13 category players will not be permitted to bat or bowl, but they can field.
Last time there was divided opinion on an important topic - whether the Play Cricket online results system should be introduced - the Lincs League established a working party which examined the topic in detail and eventually drafted a rule change which was subsequently carried at the AGM with a large majority.