Date: February 5, 2005

Dear Team Representative,

Thank you for attending the Kanto Cricket League(KCL) AGM at the YC&AC on January 30, 2005. This document contains the minutes of the 2004 KCL AGM and the decisions taken by the KCL Organising Committee, which was subsequently elected at the AGM.

I would like to thank the YC&AC for making their room available the whole day for the meeting.
 

General Notes

? The clubs that were represented are:

1 Adore
2 British Embassy 
3 CC of Nagoya 
4 Dragons C.C 
5 Edogawa Falcons 
6 Friends XI 
7 Ichihara Sharks 
8 Indian Engineers 
9 MAX
10 Millennium
11 Paddy Foleys
12 Shizuoka Kytes
13 Tokyo Bay
14 Tokyo Giants
15 Tokyo Wombats
16 Wyverns
17 Fuji Far East
 

- Lalazar Sports and YC&AC, who participated in the KCL 2004, were unrepresented at the AGM.

- Of the 16 participants listed above, Dragons C.C, Paddy Foley and CC of Nagoya did not have any voting rights in this AGM as they were not part of the KCL 2004.

- Total number of votes cast below may vary depending upon the availability of eligible voters at the time of voting.

- Mumtaz Khan of Tokyo Giants presented the need for a new Flicx pitch for the new ground in Saitama. The new ground will be available for cricket on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month.
 

AGM Minutes

Chair: Mr. Anton McCloy

1. Biju Paul, the Secretary of the outgoing Committee read a report of the previous season and congratulated the captains and teams for their good behaviour and co-operation on and off the field.

2.  In the absence of Kei Imamura, the treasurer of the outgoing Committee, Robert-Gilles Martineau presented the financial report for the season 2004, which in brief is as listed below:

Income from team registration JPY 640,000
Expenses during 2004   JPY 502,185

Balance in 2004   JPY 137,815
Balance from previous years JPY 396,743

Total balance at the 
beginning of the year 2005 JPY 534,558
 

3. Anton McCloy presented his Umpire feedback program, titled “Japan Cricket Umpire Improvement Program”. Anton sought the approval of the AGM obliging the captains to send the feedback postcard back to him.
Vote: Unanimous

Note: There is no penalty for non-compliance of this requirement. This requirement is only to help the interested umpires improve their performance by giving them feedback on their performance, which, in turn, is provided by the captains. 

4. Adjustment for lost time – Umpires are required to adjust the lost time or penalize the offending team as per the following criteria:

- One over must be deducted from the total number of overs for every 5 minutes lost.
- Toss can be done if at least seven (7) players of both teams are present at the ground.
- If a team has at least seven (7) players present at the latest allowed time for the toss (15 minutes before the scheduled start), then that team shall be considered "available" for the purposes of this ruling.
- If one team is not in compliance with the above definition of “available”, then the umpire shall deem that team to be responsible for the delayed start.
- If a particular team is deemed responsible for a delayed start without a genuine reason, then one over shall be deducted from that team’s allotted batting overs for every 5 minutes delayed.
- If the captain is unavailable for the toss, the umpire can appoint anyone from the available players.
- The official start time of every match is 11:00AM. The start time can be readjusted after due communication and agreement between the captains and umpire concerned, provided such decision is arrived at by 6:00PM the day before the match. 

Vote: Yes – 9,  No – 2

5.  Edogawa ground – A compromise solution has been put to vote for the use of the Edogawa ground for KCL matches.

- Edogawa ground will continue to be considered a non-official KCL ground. 
- KCL games will continue to be scheduled at the official grounds only.
- If the two teams and the scheduled umpire agree to play a scheduled KCL match at the Edogawa ground then, depending on the Edogawa ground availability, the match can be played at Edogawa and the result shall stand as a KCL result.
- As soon as the Edogawa ground availability is confirmed and the concerned parties agreed, the KCL Scheduler must be informed of the decision. The original ground shall become available for other matches.
- The decision to move the match to Edogawa is irreversible. Unless rained out, in which case the normal KCL rain rules apply, both teams shall lose all points in the event the “moved” match cannot be played at Edogawa.
- This game transfer arrangement would have to be confirmed a "specified period" before the scheduled match date. The "specified period" is to be defined by the KCL Committee to fit with the booking criteria for Edogawa ground.

Vote: Yes – 11,  No – 1

6. Player transfer rules – Only one transfer is allowed for a player during the season. Any request for transfer must be submitted to the Committee on or before June 30. No transfers shall be allowed after this date.
Vote: Unanimous

7.  New player registration  – Any new player registration for a team must be completed at least 48 hours prior to the last game of that team in the round robin section of the competition.  Players not registered prior to the last round robin game of that team will NOT be permitted to play in the knockout stages.
Vote: Yes – 13,  No – 1

Note: This means that no new registrations will be accepted after a team finished its league matches.

8.  New grass mower for the Shizuoka Kytes – The Kytes will be financed up to JPY 100,000 for the purchase of a new grass mower.
Vote: Unanimous

9.  New website for KCL – The KCL Committee to explore the possibilities of setting up a new KCL website.
Vote: Unanimous

10.  Walkover – The KCL Committee to decide penalties for conceding walkovers.
Vote: Unanimous

11. New Committee Structure - The present seven-member Committee to be replaced by a four-member Working Committee and a three-member Disciplinary Committee governed by a Chairman.
Vote: Yes – 5,  No – 7

12.  Umpire appointments – Scheduler to do umpire appointments.
Vote: Unanimous

13.  Future AGM Agenda proposals – In future, any proposal for an item to be included on the AGM Agenda must have a club that seconds it.
Vote: Unanimous

14.  JCA Membership issues – The KCL clubs required to pay an increased registration fess from 2005 season, a portion of which will be paid to the JCA in returns for voting rights for the KCL clubs in JCA's AGM. This increased fee is subject to a ceiling of 48,000 Yen. 
Vote: Yes – 9,  No – 3

15.  A new Committee was elected with the following individual as members:
 Vote: Unanimous

 Biju Paul (Indian Engineers, E-mail: paulbiju@gmail.com)
 David Davies (Dragons C.C, E-mail: david@davies.net)
 Jarrad Shearer (Tokyo Wombats, E-mail: macgyver@sezax-mpd.gr.jp)
 Mumtaz Khan (Tokyo Giants, E-mail: sunnykhan50@hotmail.com)
 Naoki Saida (Millennium, E-mail: Nao720@aol.com)
 Robert-Gilles Martineau (Shizuoka Kytes, lapin-dragon@vcs.wbs.ne.jp)
 Shun Hashiba (Adore, E-mail: shunhashiba@s8.dion.ne.jp)

*** End of AGM Minutes ***
 

Other Decisions Taken by the KCL Committee

- KCL Registration Fees: A team registration fee of ¥ 40,000 per team must be paid to KCL. This will include the cost of the balls. This fee must be paid to the KCL account by March 25 (see the bank account details below).

- JCA Membership for the KCL Clubs: The Committee is currently consulting the JCA for ways to gain JCA membership for the KCL clubs in such a way that the clubs are not financially overburdened. All the clubs will be informed separately of the developments.

- Defaulting teams: Some teams have been found not to have paid their KCL fees for the 2004 season. If the accumulated fees(of both 2004 and 2005 season) are not paid within the date specified below, their application will be rejected summarily. Please see the Defaulting Teams list below.

- Visa rule: Any team that was found guilty of playing a player without a valid visa – as long as the visa restriction is in place by the JCA – will lose all the points it earned from that match and the captain will also be banned for one subsequent game. The player in question will be dealt with separately by the Committee.

- Team registration date: All clubs intending to take part in the KCL must register themselves with the Scheduler by February 28. After this date, any new members must be registered 48 hours prior to the match s/he is scheduled to play.

- New Club registration and admission into KCL: Any new team applying to enter the KCL competition shall be required to present a full team consisting of 11 registered players at two (2) friendly games involving other existing or newly applying KCL teams prior to the commencement of the playing season. Please see “Notes” below for details.

- Proof of commitment: Any existing team whom in the previous calendar year forfeited more than one (1) game may be required (at the discretion of the KCL committee) to present a full team consisting of 11 registered players at one (1) friendly game involving other KCL teams prior to the commencement of the playing season. Please see “Notes” below for details.

- Penalties for Walk Over: Any team which within a period of two consecutive KCL cricket seasons does forfeit three (3) or more games in total shall not be allowed to enter a team in the KCL for the subsequent season. This ruling shall apply effective from the 2004 season forward, whereby any team forfeiting three (3) or more games in the 2004 and 2005 seasons collectively shall not be permitted to enter in the 2006 KCL season. The Committee reserves the right to reject the application of any new team if the Committee determines that the team is trying to circumvent the system by changing its name to avoid any penalties. Please see “Notes” below for details.

- Scorecard submission: The captain of the winning team must submit the scorecard to the Statistician (Robert). The scorecards must reach the Statistician within 48 hours of completion of the game, duly signed by both the captains and the neutral umpire. Failure to execute this will attract the penalty as mentioned in the Points and Penalty System elsewhere in this document.

Notes

These rulings are in place in order to avoid repetition of incidents like in 2004 season, where teams forfeited games for want of players or other unconvincing reasons. Any forfeiture puts the opposing teams in an uncomfortable position as well as the scheduled ground being unused, which would be a waste of the limited resources KCL has.

Defaulting Teams
 

For the aforementioned friendly matches, the venue and will be decided at the discretion of the KCL Committee. Where a new team is unable to field a full team at either of the preliminary friendly games they shall be asked to defer their application to join the KCL until the following season.
 

Competition structure

As per the competition rules, the Tokyo Wombats and Lalazar, the top two teams of D-II in 2004, are promoted to D-I.
The Wyverns and Fuji Far East, the bottom two teams of D-I in 2004, are demoted to D-II.

Division I

Number of teams: 8

The matches in this division are played on a round robin basis. Each team play every other team and the top four teams with the highest number of points will qualify for the semi-finals.
 
The winner of D-I final will be declared as the KCL Champion.

Division II

Number of teams: 12  (Provisional)

The matches in this division are played on a round robin basis. Each team play every other team and the top four teams with the highest number of points will qualify for the semi-finals. The exact number of teams and division into groups will be decided by the Committee before the start of the season.

The winner of D-II final will be declared as the KCL D-II Champion.

Semifinal qualification

If two or more teams end up with same number of points, the following rule, in that order, will apply to determine the qualifying teams.
1. The team with a higher Net Run Rate
2. The team with the most number of wins during the league
3. The team with the most number of wins over the other contending team(s)

Explanation: If, for example, there is more than one team vying for a slot in the top four, then the Net Run Rate will be looked at to determine the qualifying team. If the NRR is the same, then the team with most number of wins during the league will qualify. If the number of wins is the same, then the team that has the most number of wins over the other contending team(s) will qualify.
 

Teams and Divisions

The following are the teams in D-I.

1 British Embassy
2 Friends XI
3 Tokyo Wombats
4 Indian Engineers
5 Lalazar 
6 Millennium 
7 Tokyo Giants
8 YC&AC

The following are the teams in D-II (Provisional).

1 Adore
2 C.C of Nagoya 
3 Dragons
4 Edogawa Falcons 
5 Fuji Far East 
6 Ichihara Sharks
7 Indian Blues
8 MAX
9 Paddy Foleys
10 Shizuoka Kytes 
11 Tokyo Bay 
12 Wyverns 

Points and Penalties

Points

Win –  4 points
Loss – 0 point
Washout or a tie  –  2 points
Team walking over  – 4 points
Team conceding a walkover – 0 points

Penalties

Appropriate points will be deducted from the defaulting/guilty teams. The penalties include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Unsatisfactory scorecards  – 1 point each from both the teams.
NOTE: This includes scorecards where the required signatures missing, deemed illegible, defective, incomplete or unacceptable for any other reason. 
2. Failure to send the scorecards to the Statistician within the stipulated time  – 1 point from the winning team.
NOTE: If the scorecard reaches the Statistician early enough, he may contact the interested parties to try and solve problems before 48 hours have elapsed after the game. 
3. Failure to send the scorecards to the Statistician within 72 hours despite his warning – 2 points each from both the teams.
4. Team that fails to provide an umpire on the designated day – 1 point.
5. Team conceding walkover within less than 48 hours – 2 points.

Apart from the above, appropriate points – as deemed fit by the Committee – will be deducted for bringing the game into disrepute or any other incidents where a penalty is to be imposed.
 

Important Dates and Deadlines

Team registration  - February 28, 2005
Participation fee   - March 25, 2005 (see the account details below)
New player registration  - 48 hours before the beginning of the match
Last date for player transfer - June 30, 2005
Last date for new player  - 48 hours before the beginning of the last match
registration         of the team.
Score card to be sent to
the statistician  - within 48 hours after the game was completed
 

KCL  Account Details

A/C Name : Kanto Cricket League Representative Imamura Kei
A/C No.  : 4288402 (Futsu)
Bank  : Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank, Shin Marunouchi Branch
 

Team registration and Scorecards

Team and new player registration and scorecards must be sent to the statistician within the dates and times stipulated above. 

Robert Martineau 
E-mail: lapin-dragon@vcs.wbs.ne.jp
Phone:  090-4197-7698, Fax: 0542-63-5619
 

Yours in Cricket,

Biju Paul,
For KCL Organising Committee.

E-mail: paulbiju@gmail.com