The Surrey Downs League committee have been discussing how we can help clubs who go through availability dips through the season.
One of our aims as a league as we move towards senior cricket having a new structure, is to keep the Surrey Downs League thriving and supporting our clubs as best we can when they face challenges. We have already been proactively in touch with clubs who seem to be having a tough season working with them to find solutions.
To this end, as an experiment for the rest of this season (2024), we have created a player loan system.
This provides clubs who have strong availability to give their players some Saturday cricket when they can’t get into their own teams, and at the same time helping clubs who are struggling to avoid forfeits, or playing short-sided or conceded games. At the end of the day, we all just want to have a decent game of cricket every Saturday.
We have created an online form/webpage: https://surreydowns.org/loanplayerform/ (link/button also at the bottom of this page) where players can register their availability. Any clubs who are looking a bit short for upcoming games can email us at chairman@surreydowns.org and we will look to put the two together.
For this to work well, we need clubs to encourage their “additional” players to complete the form. If you generally have players left out each week, please pass this on to them.
We know there could be challenges with a loan system, but we are keen to give it a try as we believe helping clubs to get teams out should override the potential pitfalls.
We aren’t reinventing the wheel.
This has been happening in the Berkshire Cricket League for a while and, if this is successful this season, we will look at adopting it officially and potentially bringing in some of their rules around a loan system which includes a bonus point for any “lending” club.
If you do have any thoughts or questions on this, please drop SDL League Chairman Darren a WhatsApp at 07912 873591.
Many thanks
Darren (League Chairman)
this page was last reviewed and updated 25 July 2024