Playing Terms and Conditions

By taking membership of Morden Corinthians Cricket Club and agreeing to play in a match for the club you are formerly accepting the following terms and conditions and agree to adhere to the spirit of cricket as defined by Lords & The M.C.C. (Marylbone Cricket Cub) which is detailed below

1. Selection priority will always be given to members over non-members.

2. To be considered for selection, Captains must be informed of player availability before Tuesday 6.00pm during the same week of the game. If availability is given after this cut off there is now guarantee of getting a game that week.

3. Captains will aim to email out a team sheet by Wednesday evening.

4. Captains will endeavour to accommodate members wishing to play two games on the same weekend, while considering other members who are seeking to play on only one of the days. In the latter case and in the interest of fairness, a member wishing to play 2 games in a weekend may be asked to stand-down from 1 of those games. In such cases, the captain will ask the player with the highest aggregate match appearances so far in the season to stand down. In the scenario of 2 players wishing to play 2 games in a weekend, both with the same number of aggregate games in the season, the stand down procedure will be will be conducted on a rotational basis, where applicable, to ensure an even distribution between members.

5. Captains may select non-members after the 6pm Tuesday deadline passed if no further members are available for selection and some team places are still available.

6. Players wishing for their 'guests' to be considered for selection must inform the captain well in advance. In this situation captains will attempt to accommodate guests. However, members will get priority selection but the captain will ask those members playing two games if they would consider standing down for another members guest to be selected. Moreover, there is no obligation on the member who is asked to consider standing down to do so. Guests can only be considered for selection in one of the social teams.

8. Players must pay their match fees to the captain or the person delegated to collect their match fees before leaving the venue of play. Failure to do so may affect the following weeks selection. Match fees are £6 for members and £10 for non-members.

9. As a courtesy to the rest of the team and to the opposition, players must arrive at venue of play no later than 30 minutes prior to the designated start of the match.

10. On the match day, the captain will nominate various people to help out. One of the duties will be to help prepare serving of the tea between innings. Tea boy duty guidelines are available here. Other duties the captain/vice captain will ask for players assistance are
Kit bag duty (ensure all club kit is accounted for and put away in the bag and loaded into the car)
Stump duty
Scoreboard duty
Match result summaries (submission of online match reports)
Scorebook duty (Copying up opposition scorebook to our scorebook where applicable)

11. All players on match days are expected to wear full cricket whites during the game.

12. Players on field conduct directly reflects on Club image within the cricket community. Players are expected to follow the spirit of cricket outlines what conduct is and is not acceptable. Any player deemed to have not played within the spirit of the game will initially recieve a verbal warning by the captain. Repeated offences may result match ban and result in formal disciplinary procedure being taken against the offending player.

Spirit of Cricket
Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsbility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains.

1. There are two Laws which place responsibility for the team's conduct firmly on the captain.
Responsibility of captains
The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is conducted within the Spirit of the Game as well as within the Laws.
Player's conduct
In the event of a player failing to comply with instructions by an umpire, or criticising by word or action the decision of an umpire, or showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to the player's captain, and instruct the latter to take action.

2. Fair and unfair play
According to the Laws the umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play.
The umpires may intervene at any time and it is the responsibility of the captain to take action where required.

3. The umpires are authorised to intervene in cases of:
Time wasting
Damaging the pitch
Dangerous or unfair bowling
Tampering with the ball
Any other action that they consider to be unfair

4. The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for:
Your opponents
Your own captain
The roles of the umpires
The game's traditional values

5. It is against the Spirit of the Game:
To dispute an umpire's decision by word, action or gesture
To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire
To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance:(a) to appeal knowing that the batsman is not out(b) to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when appealing(c) to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one's own side

6. Violence
There is no place for any act of violence on the field of play.

7. Players
Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important contribution towards this.