Review of League Cricket

7 years ago   |   By Stephen Watkins

In April 2017, the five West Midlands County Boards met to discuss a proposal at the 2017 BDPCL AGM to restructure the league to 2 divisions (24 clubs in total) from the current 48 clubs with associated adjustment within the County Leagues that support the current League set-up.

At that time, we outlined a process to revisit the proposal and a series of key actions. The purpose of this note is to update Leagues, Boards, Clubs and Players on the status of WM Cricket and the actions that have been completed.

Outcomes over the Summer are as follows: –
More leadership is required – ECB have moved from a facilitator role to one where it is acting as the engager/driver by meeting with the Leagues, Boards, Clubs and individuals to ascertain information on their decisions and their aspirations for the future. This was at the request of the interested parties listed below.
CCBs and County Cricket Leagues are integral to the change process – up to the voting process they had been on the fringes of the discussions and needed to be more aligned within the League structures so a bottom up approach of consultation with them has taken place. The discussions centred on Admin and Structure, Access to the BDPCL, CCL Offer/Formats, Clubs having a greater identity within their communities and most importantly the quality of Cricket and Facilities across the Region. Throughout this period the senior officers of the BDPCL have been updated by ECB and further dialogue continues to this day.
ECB were also asked to identify the benchmark between Senior Elite Club Cricket and Recreational Club Cricket with a new MoU imminent for all in October 2018 to ensure the BDPCL is compliant. This has benchmarking has been conducted through comparison with the four other ECB Regional Premier Leagues (East Anglia, Home Counties, North East and West of England).
Where are we now? -
ECB have met the four CCLs plus CCB representatives individually over the Summer and they will meet all together in Sept/Oct with BDPCL to articulate the proposed model and Structure for consultation with the clubs.
The BDPCL and WM ECB reps will meet with other ECB Regional Premier Leagues on Sept 20th to define the next steps for 2018 and beyond and explain the timeline of events for all Regional Premier Leagues across the country in 2018 / 2019 / 2020.
We expect to produce an Autumn schedule of meetings and info bulletins in the coming days to consult with the BDPCL, County Boards, CCLs, Clubs, Officials and other organisations to ensure all concerned are updated on a revised proposal and timeline for cricket in the West Midlands.
We remain open to alternative proposals from within the Cricket network throughout this and welcome thoughts and ideas during this period. We expect to have this matter concluded for voting at CCLs and BDPCL AGMs over the Winter period 2017-18.

Definition of Interested Parties

Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League
Shropshire County Cricket League
Staffordshire Club Cricket Championship
Warwickshire Cricket League
Worcestershire County League
County Cricket Boards – Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire
ECB Leagues and Clubs Executives
ECB Regional Team Executives

Vision for cricket across the West Midlands: -

The role of the Birmingham League and County Leagues together is to “raise the standard of cricket, facilities and increase participation across the West Midlands”