AFTER 12 years of using the same calculations for rain affected matches, there was an occurrence last month that had not been foreseen, or happened previously.

In three of the matches the fielding sides took longer than their allotted three hours and five minutes to bowl their overs.

This is not an uncommon occurrence and as a penalty their overs are reduced proportionately in the second innings.

However, for the first time because of the delay in the first innings, when the rain came after tea it was not possible to bowl the required 25 overs for a result to be obtained.

The original decision from the competitions committee was for the points to be shared two apiece as would happen in any other match where there was no result.

A club then appealed on the grounds that had the fielding sides not defaulted in the first innings the teams bowling after tea would have almost certainly won the matches, all three being in commanding positions.

The appeal panel decided as there was no rule to cover this situation and no evidence to suggest the team in the first innings had deliberately bowled their overs slowly, the points should be apportioned four to the team that were in the lead at conclusion of play and two to the team fielding first.

Unfortunately the league tables are not set up to cover this, so the figures will appear to be a little odd for the remainder of the season.

The next problem was what to do about a team that could deliberately waste time, particularly in the second innings, to avoid a match being concluded?

It was noted this could happen with the current run rate system or others such as Duckworth/Lewis.

For this situation it was agreed that if the overs had not been bowled at a rate of one over every three and a half minutes with 10 minutes leeway, the umpires must send a report to the competitions committee.

When the Home Office met with the England Cricket Board last autumn, restrictions were placed on the categories of players who could play recreational cricket in the UK in 2017.

In the face of threats that if a club were found to be playing an individual in breach of their visa the Home Office were to be informed and leagues requested to take action if the club continued to use the player, most leagues did not accept the registrations.

One Oldham-based club did play an overseas amateur but stopped when advised by the ECB.

Last month there was an interesting development in Essex where a club were advised by the ECB they should stop playing an Australian who had played under-19 representative cricket back home.

The club, after taking legal advice, continued to select the player and were duly penalised by their league.

Last Thursday, with the backing of a QC, the club took the league to court to obtain an injunction allowing the Australian to continue playing.

The outcome of the case will not be made public until today, although it was noted the overseas player in Oldham played last weekend.

Should the club win; the full ramifications will not be known for several months.

At one extreme there could be no barrier to clubs fielding any number of overseas players, with clubs and county boards unable to impose any restrictions.

At the other extreme there could be a blanket ban on all overseas cricketers playing in local leagues, including the Tier 5 first class overseas professionals.

Hopefully, there will just be a re-evaluation of which young players do have a future in the professional game, with the others being allowed to play in the UK.