THE steering committee of the proposed new Greater Manchester Cricket League has had their first meeting.

Representatives of seven of the 10 leagues who have previously shown an interest in forming the league were present at the meeting which took place last Friday at Bradshaw Cricket Club.

They included both Bolton leagues – the Bolton League and Bolton Association – the North Manchester Cricket League, Saddleworth and District League, Central Lancashire League, Lancashire County League and Greater Manchester Amateur League.

The leagues not represented were the Bolton Cosmopolitan League, the Horwich Churches and Welfare Cricket Association and the Manchester and District.

The proposal is for the 10 leagues to be scrapped and join together in one structure with multiple divisions and promotion and relegation throughout them all.

It has been received with mixed feelings from some who believe it would provide a more competitive and better standard of cricket and others who are not convinced it will work and do not want to see the traditional leagues consigned to history.

A statement issued by the steering committee following the meeting read:

"Over the past few weeks all the leagues have been discussing the structured approach to cricket at their own league annual general meetings or at specially convened league meetings.

"All league clubs have given the mandate to league officials to continue the discussions and work towards a much clearer understanding to what this may look like.

"At Friday’s meeting it was clear that to allow leagues and clubs to have a much fuller picture of what any potential new structure may look like much work is still needed.

"As the work has continued over the past few months a number of key themes such as junior cricket, cup competitions and criterias across the structure have emerge and on Thursday the steering group's members agreed to drop into themed working groups that will operate over the next 12 weeks.

"The groups will be looking to recruit key individuals from within the structure of cricket across Greater Manchester early into the new year with a task and end timeline of 12 weeks.

"The working groups will report back into the steering group on a monthly basis, the next full meeting being Thursday, January 29.

"It is hoped that all the work undertaken will start to inform and flesh out a prospectus that will allow both leagues and clubs to make informed decisions.

"Martin Kay, chair of the steering group, stated: "The meeting was very positive and everyone understands that some things need to change within our structures but it is still early to say what change will look like.

"All leagues are working in an honest fashion together and we will be working towards terms of reference that all leagues can sign up to.

"No one under estimates the size of the task ahead but we have some very skilled people within all our structures.

"With their support we think we can move through quite quickly. The work is just starting."