HOROWHENUA KAPITI CRICKET ASSOCIATION INC.
BY LAWS – 2013-14.
1. These by laws shall be read in conjunction with the Constitutional Rules of the Horowhenua Kapiti Cricket Association Inc.
2. Any alterations to these by laws shall be made by:
(a) A majority of those present at a General or Special General Meeting subject to the Constitution rules or,
(b) By a majority vote of a meeting of the Management Board, provided prior written notice of the change has been circulated.
3. The Management Board shall settle questions not specifically provided for in these by laws.
4. COMPETITION FORMAT
(a) The Competitions to be played for are the Senior A, Senior B and Presidents grades.
(b) Entry into each Competition shall be by written application to the Executive Officer and must include the contact details for the Club Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer (phone, email and postal addresses) as well as a contact for each team (specifically a mobile phone contact number and an email address).
(c) The closing date for affiliated clubs to nominate teams for all Grades is September 10th each year.
(d) Prior to each season the Executive Officer and/or the HKCA Development Officer shall meet with the Clubs Advisory Panel to discuss issues of competition format and scheduling. However, the Management Board through the Executive Officer ultimately has the final say on the make-up and scheduling of each competition.
(e) No Club shall be allowed to enter a team in the Senior A Grade competition unless it has maintained at least two (2) teams in the previous seasons competitions.
(f) Clubs may make requests (in any grade) regarding any dates where two sides (e.g. 7’s weekend, Wellington ODI, old timers day) may want to meet on a Sunday or specific date subject to the following conditions (i-iii):
(i) The HKCA will attempt to adjust the draw to suit these special requests were possible, but it should be noted that this may not always be able to occur.
(ii) These requests must be made when entering sides prior to the season as no changes to the draw will be made during the season.
(iii) Playing games on a day other than the scheduled date is at both sides own risk. This means if their game the cancelled their will be no replaying the match on another date and if the matches on the scheduled dates are cancelled any result achieved will not stand.
(H) Home sides are expected to provide the opposition with an appropriate afternoon tea during matches.
(I) End of Season semi-finals and finals in all grades shall start one hour earlier than normal.
(J) In order to be eligible to play in Semis or finals, clubs must be financial. This means they must have paid 40% of their total affiliation fees for the whole club to the HKCA by November 25th, a further 20% of the overall total by January 31st, and the remaining 40% to the HKCA by March 10th.
5. PROTESTS
(a) Any Club wishing to lodge a protest must do so in writing to the Association’s Executive Officer within three (3) days of the cause thereof arising. A protest fee of $10.00 must be paid to the HKCA within a week of the lodging the protest. The fee may be forfeited if the Management Board considers the protest frivolous, but otherwise it shall be refunded. All protests regarding the result of a match shall be accompanied by the scorebook used during the match. In all cases where a protest has been lodged, and the opposing team is affected, the opposing team’s Secretary is to be advised by the Executive Officer within three (3) days of receipt of the protest.
6. PLAYERS
(a) No Player shall appear for more than one club in a season unless meeting the stipulations of clauses 6 (b, c).
(b) A player who is registered as a member of a Club that has withdrawn from affiliation with the Association may at any time be granted a transfer to another Club.
(c) Permission may be granted by the Management Board for any player to transfer from one Club to another, subject to the player having paid all dues to the Club from which they are transferring. Written notice must be lodged with the Executive Officer not less than 96 hours before the commencement of the match. A Club shall not permit a player who is un-financial or in default to another Club or Association to play for that Club. The team the player participates in shall forfeit any competition points gained from the match.
(d) No player shall appear, except as a substitute fielder, in more than one match played on the same day. Players who play in Saturday morning competitions shall be eligible to play in afternoon matches. Where a team wins a two day match in one day then for the purpose of this by law the match shall be deemed to be completed on the first day. Any team in breach of Rule 6 (d) shall forfeit any competition points gained from the match and be penalised 5 competition points.
(e) To be eligible to play in semi’s or finals of Senior B and Presidents grade competitions, players must have played 60% of their matches in that specific grade for that specific team in that specific competition. Where club matches have been missed due to Representative (NZ, CD, HKCA, CD Age-group) duties the player can count the matches missed as part of his tally required for eligibility. Where a player has missed a number of matches due to injury (and this can be proven) and would have otherwise reached the 60% cut-off, they can apply to the HKCAExecutive Officer for dispensation to allow the player to participate inSemisand/or finals. Clubs may field their best team in the Senior A Semi’s and finals so long as all players have played for the club at any level at some stage during the season prior to the Semi’s and finals.
(f) A HKCA Senior “A” Representative player from the current season shall not be permitted to play in a grade lower than Senior A without permission from the Management Board. Applications for permission of the Management board for a player to play below Senior A must be lodged with the Executive Officer at least 48 hours prior to the start of any match. Any team in breach of Rule 6 (f) shall forfeit any competition points gained from the match.
(g) In order to be eligible to make HKCA representative sides, players must be paid up financial members of an affiliated club.
7. RESULTS
(a) Each Club shall complete a result form from the HKCA website containing the scores of each match played by teams of that Club.
(b) Each Club shall ensure the result cards from any particular week are sent to the HKCA Executive Officer and HKCA Club Results Coordinator by 4.30 p.m. on the Tuesday following the matches.
(c) Each Senior A Captain shall text or phone the basic result and any notable individual performances of their match to the Executive Officer by 7pm each Saturday.
(d) Any Club failing to furnish a result card to the Association by the day designated in 7(b) will not be awarded points for the matches concerned.
8. DEFAULTS
(a) Any Club defaulting a team in any Grade shall notify the HKCA Executive Officer at least 24 hours before the time set down for the commencement of the match.
(b) Any Club defaulting a team after 6pm the day prior to the match will be fined $50.00 plus the team defaulting will lose 2 competition points.
(c) The team being defaulted to will receive the same amount of points as issued to the highest points getter in that grade in that round.
9. DRESS
(a) The correct attire shall be white or cream shirts and long white or cream trousers. If sweaters or pullovers are worn they shall be white. For both grades below Senior A players may wear clothing that is uniform. Sponsor’s shirts or the same coloured shirts and the same coloured pants worn or the team may wear white shirts and trousers.
(b) For limited over matches teams may wear coloured clothing approved by the Association with reference to sponsor’s logos, Club colours and designs. All players in the team must wear the same coloured clothing.
(c) A Club failing to comply with the Dress Code may be fined up to $50.00 at the discretion of the Management Board.
10. CANCELLATIONS AND POSTPONEMENTS
(a) The HKCA Executive Officer or nominated representative may make a decision to cancel or postpone matches prior to match-day if appropriate and shall inform clubs via email and text as soon as possible.
(b) Prior to the season the Executive Officer will distribute to clubs a list of each team captains in all grades and their contact numbers as well as an Umpires Association contact.
(c) On the morning of any game where weather may be doubtful, the home team captain can let the opposition know via text or call if he believes the game should be called off early. The opposition captain can either agreeand cancel the match or reply that they will come through anyway to assess the conditions themselves and agree a time to meet to make a decision. It will then be each of the captains role to let his own side know. Captains may decide to transfer to an artificial early at another ground in the immediate region (i.e. within 15km’s) if one is available and not scheduled for use in another grade. If a match is cancelled or transferred to artificial early both captains should make contact with the designated Umpires Association rep and inform them of the decision as soon as possible.
(d) Games can and should be where possible (subject to wicket availability and safety) transferred to artificial if the designated grass wicket is unplayable. This includes semis and finals of all competitions.
(e) In the event that a game is played somewhere neutral, both sides are expected to turn up and assess the conditions before making a decision.
(f) For Senior A Finals, The home club must cover the entire block for the three days prior to the Match. This may require the two clubs in the north and the two clubs in the south to share their covers, which all parties have agreed to abide by. Also for Senior A Finals, the HKCA EO or nominated representative, should be at the ground to provide an independent assessment of conditions in disputed cancellations and has the power to transfer matches to artificial if required.
11. FITNESS OF PITCH, GROUND, WEATHER AND LIGHT.
(a) Once the toss is due to be made (usually fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start of the match) and where official umpires are appointed to a match, the match is considered to be in the control of the official Umpires present and all decisions regarding the fitness of the pitch, ground, weather and light shall be in the hands of the Umpires, providing that the Umpires shall not abandon play without the consent of both Captains. Before deciding to suspend or not resume play after an interval, the Umpires shall establish with both Captains if they wish to continue in the conditions. If so their wishes shall be met, unless to do so would prove dangerous to either side.
(b) Where there are no official Umpires the decision of fitness of conditions is in the hands of both Captains who must agree to either suspend or abandon play. In the case of dispute because both Captains are unable to agree the existing situation shall continue unless to do so would prove dangerous to either side.
(c) Before the commencement of, or during, play the Horowhenua Kapiti Cricket Association Executive Officer or nominated representative in exceptional circumstances may over rule the Captains and Umpires if he considers that damage may occur to the playing surface if play continues.
12. REPORTS
Senior A Team Captains are required to complete reports on Umpire’s performances during a match and also to complete Pitch reports supplied by the HKCA. Failure to do so may mean teams lose competition points for that match.
Note
Executive Officer refers to anyone holding the position of Treasurer/ Secretary of the HKCA.