A NEW on-field penalty for teams breaching over-rate regulations is among rule amendments announced in the Bradford Premier League.

For every complete over a team fails to bowl by the target time they will incur a six-run penalty as well as having to complete the overs.

The previous target for a 50-over game of 3hrs 10mins has been extended to 3hrs 20mins but that includes all time taken for drinks breaks and finding lost balls.

It means teams will have to achieve a rate of 15 overs per hour which means they will have to bowl overs at the same rate as they lose them in the event of bad weather – one every four minutes.

The target times for 45 over and 40 over contests in second team cricket are now 3hrs and 2hrs 40min respectively.

The idea of an on-field penalty came after discussions with clubs at last year’s mid-season meetings and discussions with league umpires.

Another significant change to playing regulations is the introduction of Duckworth Lewis Stern and legside wides in Division One.

In all matches the umpires will now be the sole judges of weather conditions, which is identical to the cup rules, and teams in all matches now have to start a match with a new ball.

Teams will also need to make sure that in games where play is abandoned without a ball being bowled that the names of all players are submitted.

Failure to do so will result in them receiving a warning on the first occasion and incurring a three-point penalty if they transgress again.

From the 2020 season the league’s divisions will be called Premier, Division One, Division Two and Division Three to give a clearer indication of the level teams are playing at.

The deadline for registering players each week has been moved back from Thursday 9pm to Friday 6pm.

Loan moves will also have to be completed by 9am on the day of the game instead of the previous deadline of noon on Saturday.