Keighley eye side in Halifax League as Cullingworth in frame

Paul Barker and Steve Butterfield, who are both directors of the club, gave a presentation to the league’s rules revision meeting at Pellon Social Club.

Barker said: “We are trying to bring a lot of juniors on, develop them and we have very successful under-13 and under-15 teams.

“Our under-13s won their league and their cup, going through the season unbeaten, and our under-15s won their league but lost in the cup final.

“We have good facilities, good teas and a good ground and it will mostly be juniors that are playing with a few older heads. We also have an alternative ground (Marley) should Lawkholme Lane not be available.”

Butterfield said: “We also have two umpires and we feel that this (the Halifax League) will be a good environment for our players.”

The clubs who are already in the Sunday League will vote electronically - Huddersfield League club Armitage Bridge have also applied - and a decision on both clubs will be announced at the league’s annual meeting, also at Pellon Social Club, on Monday, November 18.

If Keighley are elected into the Halifax League what effect this will have on Keighley’s third XI in the Craven League remains to be seen.

Halifax League secretary Tim Helliwell said: “We still cannot be certain what our Saturday structure is for next season (which could mean the clubs placed fourth and fifth in Division Two being promoted) but we will be talking to two clubs about what they want to do over the next few weeks and will have a decision by the end of the month.”

Cullingworth came fourth in Division Two in 2024 and seemingly missed out on promotion, but they may yet get a chance to go up. (Image: John Ashton.)

Helliwell added that two clubs had had mid-season meetings with the league regarding improving their facilities and administration, and that “one had moved forward at a remarkable rate and the other had been almost as good”.

He said: “It is our job as an executive to look at these clubs and we will having meetings with another three about putting things right.

“I am not going to name any of these clubs as I feel that that would be unfair and things will remain confidential, but if they don’t put things right then there will be consequences.”

Helliwell added: “We will be making slight tweaks to our T20 competition and have been in discussion with sponsors Vocation Brewery about this.”

In 2024, the semi-finals and finals of both the T20 Plate and T20 Trophy were held separately on one day, but the idea is that there will now be one finals day for both the T20 Plate and T20 Trophy finals.  

Helliwell continued: “We will also be looking at DLS again. One of our clubs failed to hit the 12-week target for our umpiring strategy and have been deducted 12 points for both their first and second XIs.

“Only two teams failed to hit their average of 2hr 50min for bowling their overs, and they were only by two or three minutes.

“Also we are looking at whether we need to increase the penalty for conceded matches. Two games were called off due to a lack of wicket preparation.

“We are also deleting the captains’ comments on the match report cards as they are too often seen as a knee-jerk reaction. They can still comment a day later after greater reasoning.

“We also want clubs’ public liability insurance to be shown before the season starts and we are looking at DBS certificates for umpires in the Sunday league.”

Halifax Junior League chairman Phil Sharples stressed the importance of club officials attending Safe Hands courses well before the season starts as they might not be available just prior to the commencement of the season.

League chairman Anthony Briggs said that the league wanted all umpires to be ECB ACO registered, that each club should have a liaison officer who can be contacted confidentially, and that the league’s umpiring strategy will be reviewed, with scorers being added to the mix.

Jack Carson, the league’s disciplinary officer, said that there had been two disciplinary meetings during the season, 14 suspensions, most of which had been Level One, but that there had been two Level Two offences and one Level Three offence.

Andrew Mitchell, who has been umpiring since 1968, is standing down as appointments’ secretary of the Halifax Cricket League Association of Cricket Officials, while Peter Butterfield is retiring as their secretary.

Meanwhile, had no less than 27 proposed rule changes to ponder over last year, clubs in the Halifax League will doubtless be glad that they only have eight to consider this year.

They include that electronic scoring be used at all matches (they are currently used at over 96 per cent of Halifax League matches), and that minimum ground and general standards should apply to all clubs within the league and not just new clubs that are applying to join (thus removing a double standard), but, in another proposed rule change, new clubs will be expected to be responsible for their own ground maintenance.  

There is also a proposed tweak to T20 competitions in that power plays will apply for the first six overs in all matches, when no more than two fielders can be placed outside the fielding restriction area, thus bringing the league into line with professional and ECB generic T20 competitions.

All eight proposals were seconded by Queensbury and will therefore go forward for an electronic vote by clubs prior to the league’s annual meeting at Pellon Social Club on Monday, November 18.