
Clubs' bulletin no 1 of 2025 - 20 January
We wish all our clubs – players, supporters and officials – a very happy and successful New Year
2025 fixtures - outstanding games to rearrange
Clubs were offered an extension to midnight on Friday 17 January 2025 to resolve fixture issues. As of that date, ten matches were still unresolved. This is a very unsatisfactory situation, and has caused unnecessary hassle and work for our competitions manager. We will review our approach to this issue for the future, particularly as our league continues to grow.
Cricket balls for 2025 - for action
Clubs are reminded of the new ball-ordering process, whereby they should go online to order their balls for the 2025 season:
• Oxbridge balls – https://bit.ly/48uROzB (passcode 815743)
• Readers balls and equipment – https://kookaburra.formstack.com/forms/south_yorkshire_cricket_league
To clarify the procedure involved, following queries from clubs, clubs will be invoiced directly by the suppliers, but the balls will be delivered to the League for distribution at the Pre-Season Meeting on Wednesday 9 April, in the usual way.
Equity & Diversity Group – call for new members
The League’s Equity & Diversity Group is seeking to expand its membership and invites expressions of interest from potential new members - see advert. If you need more information, please contact the group’s administrator, Jason Booth, at equity.diversity@ycspl.co.uk. Please send expressions of interest in joining the group to roger.pugh@ycspl.co.uk.
Overseas player registration - reminder
This is a reminder of the League’s procedure for registering overseas players:
For players to play in the Premier Section and Senior Section Divisions 1 & 2, please complete and submit the appropriate overseas player registration form (professional or amateur) on the League forms page, in order to obtain approval to register the player from the League Compliance Manager.
For players to play in Senior Section Divisions 3 to 9, please initially contact the Head of Senior Section, Richard North, for approval to play an overseas player, befor - for informatione completing the appropriate registration form as above.
Safeguarding - important update
The Disclosure and Barring Service has initiated a change in the process for volunteers seeking to renew or update their certification. This is affecting all volunteers across the country, not only those in cricket. As a result of this change, in order to renew your certification volunteers must respond to the correspondence received from the ECB, as well as log into their account and manually renew on an annual basis.
The YCB Safeguarding Team is working to minimise the impact of this change on the game's volunteers and to support with regular reminders to all those affected. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the county safeguarding team at safeguarding@yorkshireccc.com.
A reminder of available safeguarding courses in South Yorkshire:
• 27th January - Maltby Miners Welfare CC - 18:30-21:30
• 8th February - Thorncliffe & Wentworth CC - 09:30-12:30
• 25th February - Hoylandswaine CC - 18:30-21:30
• 3rd March - Frechville Community CC - 18:30-21:30
• 2nd April - Anston CC - 18:30-21:30
YCB will pay fees for club chairs. Book at https://www.yorkshirecb.com/page/clubs--leagues/safeguarding/available-safe-hands-courses-14178/
Scoring courses - information & action to book
Congratulations to all the League’s scorers who have attained either Level 1 or Level 2 accreditation during the winter months. The training that they have undertaken will benefit both themselves and their clubs. More and more clubs are turning to laptop scoring, as this proves to be more reliable than tablet or mobile phone for games of 40 overs or more.
Microsoft have announced that they will be ending their support of Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, so scorers who use Play-Cricket Scorer Pro will need to either upgrade to Windows 11 or purchase a new laptop at the end of this season.
Steve has now arranged the following:
An accredited Play-Cricket Scorer Pro (laptop) course, which is this coming Saturday, 25 January, at Warmsworth CC. The registration for the course will now be closed, but if anyone wants to attend, please get in touch with Steve.
Two accredited courses in linear scoring and DLS, which will be at Shaw Lane on Sunday 16 March. They will be available for booking in a few days, so please keep an eye out on social media for the links.
Annual Pre-Season Meetings for scorers:
Premier Section scorers on Saturday 22 March at Shaw Lane Sports Club, Barnsley. This very useful session includes refresher training on laptop scoring, DLS, League rules and Play-Cricket.
Scorers in Division 1 and 2, on Sunday 23 March, also at Shaw Lane. There were a few issues with DLS in those divisions last season, and these will be covered at that session.
If a scorer cannot attend their specific session above, then they can attend the other one. Steve will send out invites and more specific details nearer the time.
Several clubs have contacted Steve for in-house training, and below is a list of dates and venues arranged so far. If your club would like to arrange a session for your prospective scorers, juniors, parents, on any aspects of scoring, please let Steve know.
• Sunday 9 February – Sheffield Collegiate CC
• Saturday 15 February – Waverley CC
• Tuesday 25 February – Houghton Main CC
• Sunday 9 March – Worsborough Bridge CC
There are more sessions to be added to the list, and these will be advertised in due course.
If you need any help and advice on any aspect of scoring, please contact Steve Ward (mobile 07919 241148).
Women’s & Girls League - for information
Women’s and girls’ cricket in South Yorkshire is currently right in the middle of a busy and exciting winter league, held at S20 The Boundary. This indoor competition which runs every Sunday, will culminate in a Finals Day on the 9th March. All spectators are welcome at the venue to support our women and girls.
Registration has now closed for the women’s and girls’ summer 2025 competitions. Three formats are being played, T30, Super 8s hardball and Softball pairs. This season sees the largest number of entries with 59 teams competing across all formats.
YCB ACO umpires’ courses - action to book
A number of refresher courses and training modules are now available – for more information please see https://www.yorkshirecb.com/page/officials/education/ycb-aco-umpires-sessions--modules-19169/