THORNBURY have proposed that clubs in the Dales Council League can have two teams in the same division.

League rules prohibit that at the moment, but Thornbury B have been denied promotion in the past because their A team were in the division above.

The proposal also states that matches between the teams should be completed by the second week of the second half of the season (week 12 in a 22-match campaign) in order to minimise the risk of matches between the club’s two teams being engineered to give one or other an advantage.

The proposal got a seconder, and the league’s management committee will come up with suitable words for the proposal to be voted on at the league’s annual meeting at Pudsey Congs on Thursday, November 8.

Cookridge, meanwhile, want the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for rain-affected matches to be trialled in the league next season with a view to bringing it in fully in the 2020 season.

Although some thought that umpires had enough to worry about, they were assured that a page with the relevant calculations could be included in the handbook or via an app.

Cookridge also proposed that fielding circles be introduced for cup and league matches, although after discussion this proposal was restricted to cup matches only.

Pudsey Congs want matches to start 30 minutes earlier at 1pm (12.30pm for the last four weekends of the season), thus allowing more time in the evening for socialising, especially as players often have functions to go to afterwards.

The league’s executive committee proposed that monetary fines could be converted by clubs to a deduction of league points if they requested the change within seven days of the penalty being notified.

A £10 fine would equate to a one-point deduction, a £30 fine to three points and a £50 fine to five points.

Thornbury also proposed that the fine for a first offence of non-fulfilment of fixtures be raised from £30 to £50, £25 of which would go to the non-offending club if they were at home to compensate for loss of revenue.

The league’s management committee decided that they would reword this rule to be voted on at the annual meeting.

Baildon proposed that a team that received a walkover in the league would be awarded the full 20 points rather than 18.

The Dales Council Umpires’ Association proposed that their match fees should go up by £5 across the board, meaning that they would receive £40 each if two officiated in a game, £60 if only one was in charge and £20 per umpire if games did not start.

They also proposed that umpires should be paid £35 (by the league) for officiating in the league’s cup finals in addition to receiving their commemorative trophies.

Among rules that failed to receive a seconder, and will therefore not go forward, were points for an abandoned game going up from four to either eight or ten; batting points to start at 100 runs (rather than 75) and that the number of overs in B Division and C Division matches be reduced from 45 overs to 40.