THE Horsham Cricket Association has passed its final senior by-laws for the upcoming season, with the association to crack down on forfeits.
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If a senior side forfeits for the third time in the season, all of those club’s senior sides will lose six points, the equivalent to one win.
The lowest grade team must forfeit when a club is unable to meet its commitment to fill its senior teams.
Association secretary Darren Chesterfield said the decision was made in the best interest of the association.
“The association sees its job to protect the integrity of the association and unfortunately forfeits impact on our reputation and integrity, so we have decided to be a bit tougher,” he said.
“Any club that has a team that forfeits for the third time, all of their senior teams will lose six points. If you have an A and B grade and the C grade team forfeits for the third time, every team will lose six points.
“There has never been a penalty before. We have had teams forfeit at the start of the season and during the middle, it’s not just harvest time. We try to work with the clubs to do the best possible draw to assist them through harvest.”
In other changes, there will be two Twenty20 matches in each senior grade.
“Some people like Twenty20 cricket and we want to give it a chance to be part of our formal season,” Mr Chesterfield said.
“We have tried to incorporate it into the times of the year when numbers might be down, around Christmas and just after.”
There will be a free-hit following a no ball call in B Grade one-day and Twenty20 matches.
The amended heat rule has also been confirmed so that play can be cancelled on the day before play based on the forecast temperature at 8am.
The association is yet to confirm what its junior competitions will look like this season. Junior cricket is scheduled to start on October 20.
“We are still talking to clubs to see what they want to do,” Mr Chesterfield said.