After our final consultation meeting at 8 a.m. this morning the Board have agreed and can now publish the Divisional Structure for the 2020 Season.
Our priority has been maintaining our consistent approach to the perennial problems of:-
- Best placing new clubs at an appropriate level to ensure competitive cricket for them and our current clubs
- Ensuring your team will be playing in a position that the team’s performance dictates and
- Lessening the impact on current GMCL clubs
whilst this year also moving to the linear structure we have sought since formation.
At the start of the season we published how the league structure would look in 2020 with no new clubs joining us so this is the necessary revision to that structure in order to welcome the 5 new clubs that we have previously announced. All the new grounds have been visited and the GMCL ground team’s reports are very complimentary to all 5 so they will be great additions to the league.
So, what have we done?
- We have gone linear for the top 4 divisions and maintain the aim of going to 5 linear divisions in 2021
- There is promotion for the top two teams in every division at the end of 2019
- We have made the lowest tier 3 regionalised divisions to be named on the areas they cover, depending on the clubs in the tier, reducing travel impact even more for these teams.
- We have brought the impact on current clubs down to the minimum possible in a reasonable structure.
- We have maintained division sizes at 12 for a 22-week Saturday season which will run from April 18 to September 12 which also gives us full fixture lists for our lowest divisions for the first time.
Division Names
Because the linear structure means we will now be better placed to start setting and imposing ground and pitch criteria as we initially envisaged, we have changed to Premier and Premier 2 in order to set the best standards for our top 24 clubs to aim for if they are not already there. We have a Championship division to sit behind the Premier Divisions as is common naming convention these days which gives us the next layer of standards and then Divisions 1 & 2 (2A & 2B) sit behind them and these still sit above the regionalised structure which remains at 3W & 3E and below as it has been for a few years and as we have grown accustomed to.
The Detail
- Premier 2020 – 8 clubs remain, 4 down from the 2019 Premier League – top 2 from each of 2019 Divs 1A and 1B will be promoted in to form Premier 2020
- Premier 2 2020 will be formed of
- the 4 relegated teams
- plus 3rd, 4th and 5th place from 2019 Divs 1A and 1B
- and joined by Bradshaw CC 1st XI
- plus the highest point scoring 6th placed team from Division 1A or 1B (if level – highest Net Run Rate)
- Championship 2020 will be formed of
- the 6th placed team not qualifying for Premier 2 2020 from Divs 1A and 1B
- plus 7th, 8th and 9th from 2019 Divs 1A and 1B
- plus the highest point scoring 10th placed team from Division 1A or 1B (if level – highest Net Run Rate)
- plus the top 2 from each of 2019 Divs 2A and 2B
- Division 1 2020 will be formed of
- The 10th placed team not qualifying for Championship 2020 from Divs 1A and 1B
- The 11th and 12th placed teams from 2019 Divs 1A and 1B
- 3rd and 4th placed teams from 2019 Divs 2A and 2B
- plus the highest point scoring 5th placed team from 2019 Divs2A or 2B (if level – highest Net Run Rate)
- and joined by Milnrow CC 1st XI and Mottram CC 1st XI
- Divisions 2A and 2B will be formed as equal non-regionalised divisions from
- All remaining 2019 Divs 2A and 2B teams. (no relegation from 2019 Divs 2A or 2B)
- The top 3 from both 2019 Divs 3W & 3E
- plus the highest point scoring 4th placed team from 2019 Divs 3W or 3E (if level – highest Net Run Rate)
- and joined by Hadfield St. Andrews CC 1st XI and Daisy Hill CC 1st XI
- Divisions 3 West and 3 East will be regionalised and formed of
- All remaining 2019 Divs 3W and 3E clubs not in 2020 Divs 2A and 2B
- The top 2 from each of 2019 Divs 4W and 4E
- and joined by the 2nd XIs from Hadfield St. Andrews CC, Mottram CC and Bradshaw CC
- Three Divisions 4, named dependent on areas
- Formed from all remaining 2019 Divs 4W and 4E
- And all Divs 5W and 5E clubs
We will not know the final numbers in the regional divisions until we receive all club’s final submissions on the Memorandum of Understanding document at 31st October which will give us the final numbers of 2nd XIs and tell us if any 1st XIs need to move down.
Where there are clubs with two teams in the lowest tier they will be placed in adjacent Divisions. If either team are promoted from the same club, they will become the 1st XI.
2020 into 2021
Our aims for 2021 season are
- We will move to 3 relegated and 3 promoted across the competition at end of 2020.
- We will move to 5 linear divisions for 2021 season
We know that the league is and will remain attractive to new clubs going forward and so this process of placement of clubs will continue year on year. Ideally, we would love new clubs to give us a full season’s notice for joining but the League Cricket Conference sets resignation dates in the middle of the season. Over the next couple of months we will be looking at this in more detail so that we consider and set our own application dates for 2021 based on what is best for GMCL and its members and if we can be stronger we will because this is our 5th year and there has already been many opportunities for clubs to make the change and join us.
Should any club official wish to comment to a Board Member on the above please e-mail
club-director@GtrMcrCricket.co.uk