BACK in June last year, when a number of clubs in Greater Manchester still hadn't decided in which league they would be playing their cricket in 2016, the Lancashire League announced they were looking to recruit 10 clubs to make two divisions of 12 with promotion and relegation.

Twenty clubs, mainly from the Northern and Ribblesdale Leagues applied, with eight from the former and two from the latter being selected.

The Lancashire League clubs then had to accept the clubs by a two thirds majority, with 11 having to be in favour. The vote was eight in favour and six against so the proposal failed.

Two teams, Lancaster and Morecambe from the Northern League, were dropped on the grounds of travelling distances and the vote taken again, this time to form two leagues of 11. This time the proposal was carried, although there were some doubts cast on the vote of one particular club.

The Lancashire Cricket Board had never been particularly supportive of the Lancashire League's attempt to recruit clubs, preferring to see the Lancashire, Northern and Ribblesdale Leagues, along with the Palace Shield, form one large organisation, and had issued an email to all leagues in the county regarding recruitment policy.

After the vote had been taken, the LCB also detailed certain sanctions that would take place should the Lancashire League proceed.

At the moment, there appears to be stalemate in the region without any of the eight new clubs having accepted the Lancashire League's offer, and with the June 30 deadline for clubs to leave their existing leagues only weeks away it is difficult to envisage any major changes before the 2018 season.

May 15 sees the first match in the inaugural 40-over competition sponsored by Heineken.

Two of the teams with byes in the Hamer Cup – Heaton and Walkden – will be meeting at Lower Pools.

Most of the clubs will not play until June when the early rounds of the National and Lancashire Knock Outs are out of the way.

The competition is partially based on the outcome of the England Cricket Board's recent players' surveys, which suggested players would prefer some games of shorter duration.

Aspects of the ECB's 'Get the Game On' policy have also been adopted, for example matches will be completed on the day with overs reduced to as few as 10 if necessary because of the weather.

Along with many other cup competitions there will be a restriction on bowlers, with a maximum of eight each.

It had been decided to trial full Duckworth-Lewis run-rate calculations in the 40-over competition, with a view to bringing this in for the league competition in 2017, but unfortunately the apps used pre-season gave conflicting scores.

Other local leagues, however, have introduced electronic scoring with run-rate calculations built in, so we will be keeping a close eye on these.

Early signs are that Westhoughton second team's record-breaking run of championships could have come to an end with their sixth last season.

Two first-team players have decided to extend their stay in Australia, and the club have decided to promote from within. Coupled with other players deciding to play less cricket this summer it looks likely there could be another name on the Howarth Cup this year – possibly one of the new clubs.