THE SPIRIT OF CRICKET Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action, which is seen to abuse this spirit, causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains. Managers, Coaches and Captains are expected to take a leadership role and together with umpires and all players set the tone for the conduct of a Cricket match. There are two Laws, which place the responsibility for the team’s conduct firmly on the captain. Law 42.1 Responsibility of Captains The Captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is conducted on any part of a cricket ground including the field of play within the Spirit of the Game as well as within the Laws. Law 42.18 Player’s Conduct In the event of a player failing to comply with instructions by an umpire, or criticising by word or action the decisions of an umpire, or showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to the player’s captain, and instruct the latter to take action. Responsibility of Umpires: Fair and Unfair Play The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play. The umpires may intervene at any time and it is the sole responsibility of the captain to take action where required. Ineffective action by the captain may result in the umpires putting the player and the captain on report. The umpires are authorised to intervene in cases of: Time wasting Verbal abuse directed at other players Dangerous or unfair bowling Tampering with the ball (i.e. lifting the seam or using resin, wax, oil, hair products, etc) Obstruction of batsmen while running Incommoding (by causing bother/nuisance) by noise or action to player on strike Any other action that they consider to be unfair The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for: Your opponents, your own captain and team and the role of the umpires The game’s traditional values including fair play and good humour when losing It is against the Spirit of the Game: To dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance: a) To appeal knowing that the batsman is not out b) To advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when appealing c) To seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one’s own side Violence There is no place for any act of violence on or off the field of play during a Cricket match Every player is expected to make an important contribution to the Spirit of Cricket. 3 GENERAL COLLEGE CRICKET PLAYING CONDITIONS Managers, Coaches and Captains should familiarise themselves with these general playing conditions, those specific to particular grades and the various format conditions later in this handbook. The Laws of Cricket cover any Cricket specific situation not defined in these playing conditions and the College Sport By Laws apply to any other conditions including eligibility not catered for within these conditions. 1. LAWS 1.1 Except as provided herein, the Laws of Cricket 2000 shall apply to all matches. 1.2 Unless advised to the contrary, the application of Penalty Runs as identified in the revised Laws of Cricket does not apply at any level of games under the jurisdiction of College Sport Wellington, apart from Premier Youth Grade. 2. SCHOOL CONVENORS 2.1 It is imperative that one person at the school be nominated as responsible for receiving and disseminating Cricket related information. Past experience has shown that where non teachers are performing this role, there are communication difficulties. 3. SUPERVISION 3.1 It is a requirement of the College Cricket Management Committee that all teams entered in this competition are supervised throughout any fixture by an adult, responsible to the school of representation for the on and off field actions of the players. 3.2 This manager/supervisor must be named when team entries are submitted. If a parent roster is formulated to assume this role, a coordinating parent should be named. 3.3 The College Cricket Committee may forfeit any competition points from a match where there is no supervision, or withdraw such teams from the competition. 4. ELIGIBILITY 4.1 The College Sport Wellington Eligibility By Laws apply and additionally rules 4.2 and 4.3 below. 4.2 In order to enhance the opportunity for elite College Cricket players to advance their potential to play at the highest level, Cricket Wellington and College Sport Wellington have established formal procedures and protocols around College players playing at Clubs. These protocols are prescribed in Appendix 1 at the end of these conditions. 4.3 Unless the provisions of Appendix 1 are applied, players who at any stage by their registration at a club other than their school, declare their intent to play their Cricket for a Community Club, are not eligible in that season to play for their College in matches that come under the jurisdiction of College Sport Wellington. This includes being used as a replacement player in any game. This application does not apply to girls, where in the interest of continuing to develop and foster Women’s Cricket, girls may play for both their School and a Club. 5. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS 5.1 All schools are required to submit a list of their registered team players though the College Sport player registration website - names, date of birth & Year level within 2 weeks of the competition starting. 4 5.2 Players can only be registered in one team and cannot play for a lower graded team than that they are registered in team in either the same or another grade. 5.3 Once a player plays (as a substitute or replacement player) 3 games for a team higher than that they are registered in, they are deemed to then be a member of that team and need to be re-graded before they play in their original team. 5.4 Players participating in the Cricket Wellington T20 competition are exempt from the requirements of 5.2 and 5.3. 5.5 To constitute a team there must be a minimum of 9 bona fide players at the scheduled start time. Failure to comply shall constitute a default, but those present are encouraged to play a “friendly” match with the players present being equalised into 2 teams. 5.6 All 1st XI’s are governed by the College Sport Wellington first team eligibility protocols as defined in the College Sport By Laws and need to provide additional information on player eligibility 5.7 In Premier Youth – Premier 3, teams may carry and play 12 players conditional on them nominating their batting and bowling elevens prior to the start of the match. Players may be substituted to field (but not bowl unless so nominated). It is the captains’ responsibility to ensure team lists are exchanged before play. 5.8 In all other grades, teams may carry up to 13 players, but may not bat more than eleven. Players may be substituted to field/bowl. 5.9 Where a team has only eleven players (or fewer) available at the commencement of play, those eleven players will be identified as both the batting and bowling eleven for the purposes of 3.6 and 3.7 above. 6. DRESS (including coloured clothing) & SPONSORSHIP 6.1 As per NZ Cricket’s policy it will be MANDATORY from Term 4 2017 for all Youth Cricket, Boys & Girls, to wear a helmet with a face guard. They must be worn while playing and during practice sessions when batting, keeping (within 5 metres of stumps) and fielding in close (within 7 metres of the stumps, excluding behind the wicket on the off-side). For Term 1 2017 it is highly recommended that this is adhered too and in Term 4 it will become mandatory. 6.1 In Premier Youth Grade, coloured clothing – tops, trousers and pads representative of the school’s registered colours - are mandatory. The wearing of a coloured bib by the 12th man off the field is encouraged to avoid any confusion, for example if the 12th man stands on the boundary line giving the impression of an illegal fielder. 6.2 In Premier 2, Intermediate 1 and Junior 1 – coloured tops representative of the school’s registered colours are mandatory; coloured trousers and pads optional but only on a whole team basis. 6.3 In all other grades, including girls, white/cream or coloured trousers or shorts, and/or white/cream or coloured shirts may be worn conditional on the entire team wearing the same colour and representative of the school’s registered colours. 6.4 Clothing such as multi coloured beach shorts and t-shirts of varying colours are not acceptable and school convenors/managers have a responsibility to ensure teams are presented in a manner that meets the requirements of 6.1 to 6.3. 6.5 College Sport has, in the case of any sponsorship it obtains, the branding rights to the following property associated with the Premier Youth Grade – Wickets, Bails, Boundary flags, Scoring Systems and Balls. 6.6 In the event of obtaining such sponsorship, College Sport will supply to all teams in the Premier Youth Grade an appropriate supply of the sponsored equipment which those schools will then be required to use in all College Cricket competition matches.