Draft Minutes from Nosca Meeting Held on Monday 18Th February 2013 at Havelock Hotel, Nairn

Draft minutes from NoSCA meeting held on Monday 18th February 2013 at Havelock Hotel, Nairn.

Present:

Mike Fox (chair), Ian McDonald, Alan Duncan, Kim Neil, Stephen Cranston, Chris Blake, John Sargant, Kevin Fraser, Bev Morris, Sue Green, Pete Short, John Paul, John (Highland), Carolyn Farr (Minutes).

Item Action 1. Apologies Received from Hugh MacQuarrie, Skye

Mike Fox welcomed everyone and expressed his delight at the large turn-out to the meeting. Nearly all senior clubs had representation. Mike welcomed the appointment of Peter Short (Fort William) as the new Vice President, Kim Neil (Nairn) as new Junior Liaison Officer, Kevin Fraser (Elgin) Press Liaison and Alan Duncan (Elgin) as Secretary.

2. Minutes of last meeting P Short proposed minutes as true and accurate whilst M Fox seconded.

3. Matters arising from previous meeting a) Still some clubs who have not given details of All club contacts should check ground availability. The Buckie information seems unavailability and ensure to have gone astray, C Blake will contact club for passed to C Blake by 24/02/13 information. A Duncan will contact Keith for their dates. b) Contact details for the new League handbook must be with B Morris by last day on February to meet All clubs need to provide up to printers deadline. Any clubs not providing up to date contact details to B Morris date contacts will have the 2012 information by 28/02/13 printed. c) Prices for advertising in handbook are £20 for half page and £40 for full page. d) M Fox thanked B Morris and husband for their efforts with the handbook. e) K Neil asked if junior trophy winners could be added B Morris to check if possible to to the handbook . This will depend on space add junior trophy winners to available but will be done if possible. handbook. f) M Fox circulated menus for the NoSCA dinner. These will be decided upon at later date. He will M Fox to contact Mansion confirm date with hotel, Mansion House in Elgin, as House to confirm date 26th October 2013.

4. Playing conditions a) C Blake stated that due to the change of format there will be 22 rounds of league fixtures. A draft had been produced based on the Knock Out Cup and T20 being played on Sundays. This would also require at least one double header weekend for the league programme. The meeting agreed that extending the season end date would remove the need for the double header, thus allowing the league to start on Saturday 20th April and finishing on Saturday 14th September. b) It was agreed that games lost to weather would not be replayed. c) The Knock Out Cup draw took place, ties to be played on Sunday 12th May. o (1) RAF Lossiemouth v Elgin o (2) Keith v Forres o (3) Fort William v Ross Co o (4) Buckie v Northern Counties Second round to played Sunday 9th June o Fochabers v Nairn o Huntly v Highland o Winner of 1 v Winner of 2 o Winner of 3 v Winner of 4 Semi finals and final to be played weekends of 7th July and 18th August. d) T20 will be held in groups, starting Sunday 21st July with the semi finals and final held the following weekend. Home sides listed first: o Forres, Fort William & Nairn o Keith, Ross & Buckie o Fochabers, RAF Lossiemouth & Northern Counties o Highland & Elgin e) Decision was taken at a previous meeting that Gordonstoun should be approached again to host M Fox to approach the finals of these events. Nairn and Fochabers also Gordonstoun to host finals expressed interest in hosting the T20 finals if Gordonstoun is not available. K Neil volunteered to provide catering if necessary at Gordonstoun. f) M Fox thanked C Blake for all his work on the fixtures.

5. Handbook Issues a) It had been decided at the recent AGM that players under the age of 17years, as at 1st September the previous playing year, should not be included in the Limited Participation List. b) Current qualifications will apply for the 2013 season, i.e. 15 wickets or 150 runs in senior league cricket. c) B Morris was concerned that captains were For noting: 2nd XI captains agreeing to individuals playing but then changing should use LPL within the spirit their minds when on the field of play and suggested in which it was originally set up that the meeting could make decisions about who was able to bat and who could bowl. However this was thought to be too lengthy a process which would require every potential player being assessed. It was agreed that this is still an evolving process, that participation is key and that all second XI captains should be encouraged to exercise discretion. The meeting agreed with the suggestion made by P Short that second XI captains should, after reaching an agreement with each other on LPL individuals, inform umpires of the decisions and act responsibly. d) It was noted that the current Playing Conditions B Morris to ensure current ECB state that current ECB regulations on young people bowling regulations relating to bowling are to be followed. To avoid any confusion young people are included in this information will be added to the 2013 League handbook handbook.

6. AOCB a) A Duncan stated that cricket balls for the 2013 season have now been ordered. b) S Cranston has updated the Constitution following S Cranston to forward amended the AGM. This will be forwarded to A Duncan for Constitution to A Duncan checking. c) S Cranston reminded the meeting that the Disciplinary Committee needed to be appointed for C Blake to contact C Sanders the new season. C Blake volunteered to continue to and E Walls about participation Chair this committee and will contact C Sanders in Disciplinary Committee. (Fochabers) and E Walls (Buckie) with a view to their participation. John Paul (Highland) and John Sargant (RAF Lossiemouth) volunteered to stand as reserves. d) C Blake queried if the playing Conditions would need further updating to cover the new playing A Duncan to make the changes format. The points system would remain the same. to the Playing Conditions However it was noted that there would need to be a regarding games lost due to change regarding the section on games lost due to bad weather. bad weather in the second half of the season which would now read that games lost to weather will be null and void. e) Discussion followed on the proposal Fochabers had but to the AGM regarding changing points allocated to abandoned games. It was agreed that this would be too difficult and, after a vote, was unanimously rejected. f) S Cranston reminded the meeting that 5 areas of work were to be distributed for progression of items P Short to circulate ideas for through the year. P Short said these would be progression to Executive circulated within the executive for action. g) Fort William have had a set back with their funding application for an artificial wicket at the Fort Augustus ground. However, they will continue to look for funding. h) Clarification was sought on other sponsorship for NoSCA. K Fraser stated that the possibility he had previously identified would probably only be for the Knock Out Cup. Macallan currently pay £2,000 per annum for their sponsorship. i) K Fraser has spoken to the Press & Journal about increasing their coverage of NoSCA cricket. They K Fraser to continue to look for had been positive. They had given permission for ways to positively publicise articles to go onto the NoSCA website too. It was NoSCA though that effort should be made to getting the league table into the paper every one or two weeks. Also, the game against the MCC should be highlighted more with efforts to publicise MCC players. j) It was agreed that the Executive should be in possession of the codes for the website. One A Duncan to contact current person should have access to the site to keep things web administrator for access in check but contributions would be welcome from codes. others. k) K Neil asked for clarification on her post as Junior Liaison Officer. M Fox thought it should be a figurehead roll, a point of contact for clubs wanting to take junior matters forward and needing assistance or support. K Neil has a list of dates from Gordonstoun for junior matches and is keen to get groups of youngsters throughout the league to take part. l) Next meeting is scheduled for Monday 18th March at the Havelock Hotel, Nairn.