THE Greater Manchester Cricket League today issued a press release to give an update on the league's development as it continues to plan towards its first season next year.

The statement, signed by chairman of the league's steering group Martin Kay, says the league has been advised to form a company with directors including a commercial director, player’s experience director, clubs director, juniors director and competitions director.

There statement reads as follows:

"On behalf of The Greater Manchester Cricket League Steering Group I would firstly like to thank those clubs who have already made the decision to join the league as our founder members for 2016 and look forward to more joining in the next week or so.

The Steering Group would like to place on record its thanks to all the clubs who have carried out consultations with their committees and players in order to reach a club decision, whatever that final decision has been. Steering Group members have attended numerous club meetings at the request of clubs and have been delighted how officials and players have engaged with the process and sought answers to their detailed questions.

The prospectus stands as it was delivered on April 30th.

Moving forward

Legal advice received is that we form a company, limited by guarantee as the Greater Manchester Cricket League and with that in mind and working with the principles set down at the inception of the league and the areas of activity needed to manage the league we will be creating the roles of directors of the Greater Manchester Cricket league.

This structure encompasses the “traditional” roles of league committees but drives forward the ethos of the league which is the focus on club and player development and improvement across the whole structure, a model fit for the modern era.

In the first two weeks of July we will be holding regional meetings for club reps and players who have registered with the league. These will be open to all the league and you can attend whichever date suits you if your “local” event does not. A questionnaire will be sent to clubs and responses obtained will assist with the planning of engagement meeting. It will also provide an opportunity for people to put themselves forward for getting involved in the next steps of forming the League as there is much to do.

In the short term the members of the Steering Group will begin to drive these areas forward so we can be ready to go as soon as possible and the aim is that we will have a full launch of the league for players, clubs and sponsors by October 1st 2015 by which time all obligations will be served by clubs towards current Leagues.

I would like to take this opportunity to outline the above structure briefly.

The role of Player’s Experience Director is radical but will, we hope, be taken on by senior high profile players across the whole region to take on board what the players think about the competition and their suggestions on how we can improve the competition. It will give players a “voice” in the management of the league which can only be of benefit to the whole structure.

The Clubs Director will be there to monitor all our clubs, work with their plans for development, share best practice and latest news and support them in their place in the league.

The Commercial Director will have the right people in place to manage the financial control of the league but primarily for the key roles around generating income and sponsorship, PR. Marketing and using the income and agreed contracts to benefit the clubs and add financial support to club development.

Juniors Director is obviously a huge piece and one of the two priority activities for us right now which will involve establishing who will be in the 2016 competitions and how many teams the clubs will have at each age group and how many age groups they will run so that we can create the divisions needed at the right level needed for each of our clubs. There are many other areas within the remit of Junior Director and with many offers of assistance made already we can make an early start on most of these items soon after 1st July.

The ‘biggie’ for everyone at senior level is of course where they will start and a team has been put in place to manage this process from now as “Competitions Director” and they are up and running with this. Other items will follow quickly and we can begin to decide on cup competitions and more detailed league and inter league activities soon.

The Umpires & Scorers sector is already underway and Umpire numbers are already being compiled from existing umpires transferred over and those who have already said they wish to join the structure for 2016. Meetings are taking place on kit supply shortly and training courses have been agreed for Autumn and Winter with LCBACO, further courses will be available as and when required.

The Communications area is up and running and there are no immediate issues to deal with although we hope to be able to generate initial fixture charts as soon as team placements are known. This will include the complexities around the 3rd XIs who will have games on Saturdays and Sundays to match ground availability.

The above management structure responds to the needs of sport in the modern era.

The engagement meetings booked are as follows:

Wednesday 1 July – Clifton CC

Tuesday 7 July – Denton West CC

Wednesday 8 July – Whalley Range CC

Wednesday 15th July – Venue for North East TBC

This is a new way of doing things both in structure and engagement. From what we are already being told this is exactly what clubs and players are expecting from us.

I have agreed continue to Chair the Steering Group through this change process, over the past eighteen months there has been many up and downs as we have all wrestled with what change may look like but I feel that things are unfolding quite nicely and we are now getting to the business end of just how things will look. Presently the League has welcomed forty five clubs which translates to over ninety senior teams and one hundred and twenty junior teams and this is set to strengthen and grow. The standard of cricket at the top end of the pyramid will be very competitive and the season will be live all summer and the amateur level of the pyramid will be well populated and offer competitive cricket all the way down to the recreational level. At the junior cricket level, as with the seniors, the flexibility offers strength and having over one hundred and twenty teams ensures a vibrant and sustainable model across the whole of Greater Manchester, no other system can offer this strength of offer.

This new cricket League for Greater Manchester has been constructed by representatives from all Leagues with the mission to be inclusive for all; that mission has been realised above and beyond, we have and will, continue to seek out the best people to help us shape this fresh looking and radically new approach, there are opportunities for individuals to get involved on many levels and I hope the engagement meetings will give interested people the opportunity to get involved.’

By outing the Management Structure so clearly the Greater Manchester Cricket League is continuing its promise to be open and transparent to all Leagues, Clubs and individuals that take an interest in its work. Work will now start in earnest as to understand what each division in the new structure will look like and whilst the individuals involved will be using the template outlined in the prospectus, there will also be one to one meeting with Clubs; these meetings will take a couple of months to conclude and will aid the final placements of Clubs, this is another example of how differently this new League will work; personable, approachable and with a full understanding of our sport and clubs issues and thoughts.

We have forty five founder members of the Greater Manchester Cricket League at of this moment but everyone is welcome and together we are most definitely stronger. I look forward to releasing further details in the very near future

More information about the Greater Manchester League can be found at www.gmccl.leaguerepublic.com