IT is looking increasingly like there will be some movement of clubs around the leagues before the deadline later this month.

The Lancashire League may be acquiring up to three clubs, but Ramsbottom are holding a meeting next week to consider their future.

Hindley St Peters are leaving the Southport and District Amateur Cricket League to join the Greater Manchester Cricket League.

However it appears the wholesale changes anticipated during the past 12 months are unlikely to materialise.

In 2017 the Bolton League will have a similar number of clubs to this season and are committed to two divisions with promotion and relegation.

From the next League meeting onward clubs will be having to make decisions on the structure; deciding how many teams will be in each division and how many will be promoted and relegated.

Two up and two down is possibly favourite but perhaps there could also be a play-off between third from bottom in the top division and third in the lower division?

This arrangement will include second teams who will also form two divisions based on their league placing this season.

I have previously touched on the success of the t20 competition and the financial rewards.

The competition could be extended by playing in groups of four instead of five, with clubs playing each other twice on a home and away basis guaranteeing three home matches.

The competition would run from the last week in May to the first week in July.

There would then be the option of playing the knockout rounds from the quarter-final onwards in evenings in mid-July before the nights draw in, or Sunday afternoons with three matches on one ground.

This has been a success previously locally and is the format used in the area finals involving ourselves, the Northern League, Liverpool Competition and Pennine League.

With leagues of 10 or 11 teams there would be fewer fixtures.

This would be a bonus during the period when the t20 matches are being played as weekend double headers could be avoided, but there would be greater scope for replaying rained-off matches later in the season.

At the moment the Bolton League only replay matches if the whole first team programme is wiped out, but there would be an opportunity for replays if a certain proportion of the matches were affected.

Had we been able to apply this retrospectively the clubs who did not play on April 30 could have had another chance later in the season.