Worcestershire Cricket Board

These rules relate to the District Cricket Festival Competition from 2005 and onwards

The control of the Competition shall be undertaken by the Worcestershire Cricket Board Youth Development Committee (hereafter referred to as the WCB) and all decisions relating to these rules or to matches played in the Competition shall be final and binding on all concerned.

The competitions shall be contested between the cricketing districts as defined in the WCB development plan (North Worcestershire, East Worcestershire, South Worcestershire & West\Central Worcestershire)

Subject to the overriding discretion of the WCB, acting with the consent of the England & Wales Cricket Board (hereafter referred to as the ECB) a Cricketer will only be qualified to play for a district in a Festival Match if he/she:

3.2.2 has been resident in England and Wales for the immediately preceding four consecutive years

The qualification criteria for all District Representative cricket is as follows:

The criteria apply to girls as well as boys and any reference to he/him also refers to she/her.

1. A player may only represent one district in any one Competition in any one season.

ii) Alternatively, he is attending an educational establishment within that district.

iii) Alternatively, he has been a bona-fide playing member of a club within that district for at least the entire preceding season.

4. District boundaries shall be as defined by the WCB (as currently defined in the WCB development plan).

5. A player may play for a district for whom he is not qualified only if he has not been selected by the district for whom he is otherwise qualified and has obtained the written consent of that district. Such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. There is no requirement to obtain the consent of the district of birth. In the event of a dispute the matter shall be referred to the WCB, whose decision shall be final.

6. A player who has played for a district, with a valid qualification for that district, during a season can continue to play for that district, if selected, the following season even if he no longer has a current qualification (for example following a change of school). The qualification remains valid from season to season, but lapses if the player does not represent the district during a season.

The following points are intended to answer some of the more frequently asked questions relating to the qualification criteria:

• The "entire preceding season" membership requirement means that club membership during the current season does not count and players must have become a bona fide member of the club the preceding season no later than 1st May.

• Playing membership of a club includes membership of a Kwik Cricket or 'Junior Colts' section if the club has one, and does not imply match play against other clubs.

• Qualification by birth is excluded from the 'consent' arrangements for the sake of simplicity.

• Players who have multiple qualifications are free to select the district that they wish to represent. Once that selection is made it remains in force for that season, but can be changed in subsequent seasons, without requiring consent, provided that the player still has a valid qualification for the newly selected district and notifies his former district in writing.

• A player who is registered to a district is eligible to play for the appropriate age group sides of that district. Districts wishing to register a player not otherwise qualified for that district should seek the consent of the other district/s involved. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld.

• Club membership during the preceding season will qualify a player to play only for the district in which the club is physically located (as per the WCB Cricketing District Boundaries as currently defined). Membership of a League that crosses County boundaries, affiliation to more than one County Board or participation in the Colts structure of another County will not alter the primary affiliation of the club to the district in which it is located and therefore the district qualification based on club membership of its players.

• A cricketer shall only be qualified to play in the Competition if he is qualified to play in a Competitive County Cricket Match.

• All disputes relating to these qualification criteria should be addressed to the WCB initially. If necessary disputes will be referred to the ECB Cricket Department\ ECB Registration Committee whose decision will be final.

7 . Overseas Players Resident in England - A cricketer who is not qualified under 6 above, but who is ordinarily resident in this country can qualify as an overseas player resident in England and play in the Competition only if:

• i. He/she has been resident in this country for a period of twenty four consecutive months before the date of his request for registration

• ii. He/she has not been out of this country for longer than 35 days consecutively or 70 days in total during the previous twenty four months

• iii. The definition of 'ordinarily resident' shall be in the absolute discretion of the body responsible for registration of the player in the relevant Competition.

Any such player MUST be properly registered with the ECB Cricket Department, having completed an ECB 'Category 3 - Overseas Player' registration form. The district MUST have received the appropriate paperwork either from the WCB or the ECB Cricket Department showing that the player is registered PRIOR to the start of the match. No player shall be registered for the Competition after 30 th June in any season.

The cricket balls will be provided by the WCB. The home shall be responsible for collection and provision of two new cricket balls for each match. The balls shall be of the standard laid down by the ECB for each Competition and shall be given to the umpires prior to the commencement of the match. The Home side will also be responsible for supplying enough spare balls of equal standard. A new ball must be used at the start of each innings.

The WCB shall be responsible for providing umpires. The umpires shall be appointed by the Worcestershire Cricket `Umpires & Scorers Association and shall be screened for their suitability for working with young people through the enhanced disclosure (CRB) procedure. The Umpires shall be appointed for the whole match and may not play in the match.

Age Groups are based on the age of the player at midnight on 31 st August in the year preceding the current season.

Team sheets/cards are provided by the WCB. Each side must provide the umpires with a team sheet before the start of the match identifying any player who has not reached the age of 18 on the date of the match and showing the specific age group of any player who is in the Under 19 age group or younger . It is recommended that the ECB Team Sheet card (available from the WCB) is used whenever possible. The HOME team is responsible for telephoning the results in as directed by the organisers.

Any player under the age of 18 playing in any WCB Competition must wear a helmet with a faceguard when batting and when standing up to the stumps when keeping wicket against a hard ball unless prior written consent has been given by a parent or guardian. Any player who has parental consent not to wear a helmet should be identified on the signed team sheet provided to the umpires prior to the start of each match.

All players, Team officials and umpires shall be bound by the MCC Spirit of Cricket and the ECB Code of Conduct.

Any dispute arising from the application or interpretation of the Rules and Playing Conditions shall be referred to the WCB. Any decision of the WCB shall be final and binding on the parties concerned.

1.1 Unless otherwise specified in the Playing Conditions for a specific Competition no bowler may bowl more than one-fifth of the amount of overs scheduled for the innings. However, in a delayed start, or interrupted match, where the overs are reduced for both sides, or for the side bowling second, no bowler may bowl more than one-fifth of the total overs allowed (unless such a number has been exceeded before the interruption), except that where the total overs are not divisible by five, an additional over shall be allowed to the minimum number of bowlers necessary to make up the balance - e.g. after 16 overs, rain interrupts play and the innings is reduced to 32 overs. Both opening bowlers have bowled 8 overs. Two bowlers can bowl 7 overs and three bowlers can bowl 6 overs. Bowlers 1 and 2 have already exceeded this limit. They count as the two bowlers who were allowed the extra over (7 as opposed to 6) and so any other bowlers are limited to 6 overs.

1.2 When an interruption occurs mid-over and on resumption the bowler has exceeded the new maximum allocation, he will be allowed to finish the incomplete over.

1.3 In the event of a bowler breaking down and being unable to complete an over, another bowler will bowl the remaining balls. Such part of an over will count as a full over only in so far as each bowler's limit is concerned.

1.4. Where possible, the number of overs bowled by each individual bowler shall be indicated on the scoreboard, from the commencement of an innings.

• The allocation of overs per bowler will not be reduced as a result of the deduction of any penalty overs.

The ECB Fast Bowling Directives will apply to all matches in all ECB Competitions.

Age	Maximum overs per spell	Maximum overs per day
Up to U13	5	10
U14, U15	6	12
U16,U17,U18,U19	7	18

For the purposes of these Directives a fast bowler is defined as a bowler to whom a wicket keeper in the same age group would in normal circumstances stand back to take the ball.

3.1 Two semi-circles shall be drawn on the field of play. The semi-circles shall have as their centre the middle stump at either end of the pitch. The radius of each of the semi-circles shall be 30 yds (27.4 m.) for the under 13s and 25 yds (22.8m.) for under 11s and 12s. The ends of each semi-circle shall be joined to the other by a straight line drawn on the field on the same side of the pitch. The field restriction area should be marked by painted white 'dots' at five-yard intervals, each 'dot' to be covered by a white plastic or rubber (but not metal) disc measuring seven inches in diameter.

3.2 At the instant of delivery, there may not be more than five fieldsmen on the leg side.

3.3 For the duration of the innings only five fieldsmen are permitted to be outside the field restriction marking at the instant of delivery.

3.4. In the event of an infringement of the above fielding restrictions, the umpire at the striker's end shall call and signal 'No Ball'.

4.1. No young player in the Under 13 age group and below shall be allowed to field closer than 11 yards (10 metres) from the middle stump, except behind the wicket on the off side, until the batsman has played at the ball. A fielder shall be allowed to move into the restricted area to make a catch or field the ball provided that they were outside the area when the stroke was made.

4.3. Should a young player in these age groups come within the restricted distance the umpire must stop the game immediately and instruct the fielder to move back.

4.4. Players should wear appropriate protective equipment whenever they are fielding in a position where they feel at risk.

Unless otherwise indicated, Law 14 will not apply in the Competition. The Captain of the batting side may not declare the innings closed at any time during the course of the match.

Umpires are instructed to apply a very strict and consistent interpretation in regard to this Law in order to prevent negative bowling wide of the wicket.

Any offside or legside delivery which in the opinion of the umpire does not give the batsmen a reasonable opportunity to score shall be called a wide. For guidance purposes, in adult cricket a legside wide should be called if a ball passes on the legside outside the pads of the batsman standing in a normal guard position.

• It is recommended that the length of the pitch for Under 11 & Under 13 age group matches is as detailed below.

• It is recommended that, other than in exceptional circumstances, the size of the boundary for Under 11 & Under 13

matches, measured from the middle of the pitch shall conform to the following dimensions.

Age Group	Pitch Length	Minimum Boundary Length	Maximum Boundary Length
Under 13	21 yds	30m (33 yds)	55m (60 yds)
Under 11	20 yds	28m (30 yds)	42m (45 yds)

DISTRICT CRICKET GENERIC RULES