• There are still three Midweek games that have to be played prior to the 19 December. These games are:

• Cashmore North – Quakers Hill v Hawkesbury. Game deferred from 10th October.

• Douglass League -   Castle Hill Squires v Winston Hills, Kellyville v Hawkesbury

Should the games not be played they will be regarded as ‘No Games’. There were a number of games not played by the date set for the replay of the ‘wash out’ week of

3rd October. These games were declared ‘no games’. There are also a number of games that have to be played by 19 February, 2010.

• It will not be surprising to see teams struggle for players on 19th December. We are quite happy for games to be played as a ‘Midweek’ prior to that date. Having said that we are not prepared to agree to games being deferred until the ‘New Year’

• The Heat Policy certainly received a baptism of fire in last two weeks of November.

Overall we are happy with the Policy as it has eliminated the interpretation of what is too hot.

There have been games cancelled. I do not have a record of how many, however I know games have been cancelled at Ashley Brown, Corbin, lower diamonds at Kellyville (21st November), Melrose and Northmead (28th November).

We would have liked clubs to have been able to provide the readings, how and where the readings were taken in the games being called off. We wanted to collect the information to enable us to refine the policy if needed, however it appears that the information was not recorded. The Policy is in ‘uncharted waters’, to our knowledge we are the only Sporting Organisation to have such a comprehensive policy covering heat.

It may well now be mandatory that this information be provided as a matter of course in future when games are cancelled due to heat.

This was important to us as there may well be subtle changes in weather conditions at say Centenary, Castle Glen, Colbee and Bensons – compared to other grounds. Certainly there appears to be a difference between the ‘top and bottom’ grounds at Kellyville.

• I forwarded to clubs the advice from Baulkham Hills Council that applications for the use of grounds in winter close on 18th December. A copy of Council’s letter is in the Correspondence.

• We will again offer at least two holiday camps in January plus special Hitting Clinics.

The dates of the camps will be 5th -7th ,  12th-14th and 19th – 21st January. Minimum age continues to be 9 years of age     

• The nominations for the Holiday Little League Competition close on 11th December. We are at the stage now where we need quality rather than quantity. Certainly we will need more 12 year old players in the Representative Teams otherwise we will again struggle in State Championship.

The change in procedure of inviting players worked well. We received a very large percentage of replies from the priority invitations sent. The Minor League competition is a ‘bit up in the air’ due to limited replies.

There have been no requests for dispensations from players unable to play in January but wish to be considered for the tournament teams. Make no mistake – no applications will result in non selection.

Our next task is to find coaches for the team, at present we only have James Waddell

• Some of the rule interpretations being implemented (mainly by coaches) are almost unbelievable. Basically we have had enough.

Winston Hills will be asked to show cause why it should not be fined for a coach instructing the Umpire (and for the Umpire agreeing)  not to call a strike for ‘hits’ which were fouls.

Soon we will be in anarchy toward Rules. Fun Ball certainly comes at a price – one we are not prepared to accept.

There is a query raised re the location of the pass ball line in Petroff and Daisley Leagues.

For the remainder of the season the foul line will be considered as being the pass ball line. This is what the Rule Book states.

The intention of the pass ball rule in both T Ball and Mod ball is to encourage the fielder to throw the ball and attempt to achieve a throwing out and not be penalized for an errant throw. With that in mind it really does not matter where the Pass Ball Line is situated. The worse thing that would happen is teams would want to run where the ball came to rest between the foul line and the fence as the ball would be still ‘in play’. That is despite what the intent of the rule is – no penalty for an errant throw.

Monday’s ‘bombshell’ is now ‘someone’ has decided that there are no double plays in Under 8…who said and why?

• Another element that is creeping in is Clubs are making their own arrangements to play games on other dates than set down by the draw. Do not do it without first asking approval, the rules prevent it. Wherever possible we will always attempt to comply with requests for deferments, or transfer of dates- however it will be done with consistency and fairness.

• The Representative Season is finally over and the Douglass and Hay Leagues in particular can now be played with some normality and free of restrictions.

The Under 12 team was successful. The team dominated the competition allowing only 13 runs in 12 games for the season. This included allowing no runs in the final three games series, scoring 33 runs along the way. Take a bow Nigel Hern.

   There are a number of reasons why we are successful in the Under 12 age group.

• There is no doubt that almost all of our impetus in Development is aimed at the 10 and 11 year old players and taper off as the players get older. This year was even more pronounced than normal. From April onward the Development squads had to play, and pitch, with a larger and heavier ball.

• Basically since April the players have had to ‘compete’ for their position in the team.

• Most of the players went to Japan with NSWJBL and benefitted greatly from that tour where they played against not only stronger teams, but teams whose knowledge of.(and attitude toward) the game is far superior to that in Australia.

• It was a ‘hungry’ team and one never allowed to rest on its laurels. Its pitching dominated opposition teams. Pitching statistics that they produced were almost unbelievable, requiring only 59 and 61 pitches to complete two of the six innings games. Teams simply cannot lose games with pitching and fielding of this standard.

• The domination came from not just one starter but rather five or six of the pitchers. The team had an abundance of pitching. Tom Roberts, Liam Gilchrist, and Mitchell Inskip all threw four innings in less than 55 pitches during the season. While both Patrick Holm and Guy Burgess achieved 3 2/3rd innings in less than 55 pitchers.

• In the Final on Sunday Mitchell Inskip threw four innings, and pitched a perfect game for him. 12 batters faced and 12 batters retired in something like 52 pitches.

Unfortunately the other teams did not fare as well.

Under 16 were the best team in that competition. However they breached a playing rule which meant they lost the game to Ryde when they were comfortably ahead. They finished second, behind Ryde in the competition.

The team’s weakness, the lack of penetrative pitching, finally caught up with them. Overall there can be no excuse for teams breaching the playing rules. It was yet another disappointing year in the Under 16 age group has always proven a difficult competition for us to win.

Under 14 finished a disappointing fourth. The team started well defeating Ryde, but then lost unexpectedly to Bankstown 1-12 and then to Cronulla. The 1-12 loss to Bankstown meant that when the minor positions were determined by runs for and against the team was never in contention.

There are certainly parts of the administration of the Final series and rule interpretations that we are unhappy about.

• Despite the warning last month re Results not being forwarded, the problem continues to exist. The worst offender is Kings Langley who according to the Association’s Recorder has not forwarded results for the entire month of November. Other clubs who failed to advise results in November and for 5th December were:

Youth                     Quakers Hill 6th November

Cashmore South    Kings Langley 21, 28 November and 5 December,

                                Winston Hills on 5th December

Street South           Blacktown on 28 November, 5th December

                                Kellyville Broncos 14 November, 5 December

                                Kings Langley 21, 28 November and 5 December

Leonard North      Blacktown Midweek game and 5 December

                                Kings Langley 21, 28 November, Midweek, 5 December

Leonard South       Kings Langley 28 November

Bergan                    Kellyville Broncos 28 November, Midweek

Catt                         Kings Langley 21, 28 November, 5 December

Petroff                    Kings Langley 28 November, 5 December

                                Rouse Hill 5 December

Daisley                   Winston Hills 21 November

Vigenser                 Eagles 14 November and 5 December

                                Kellyville Kolts and Q Hill Daggers 7 November

Akers Premier       Winston Hills 28 November.

You expect some aberrations from time to time however the list above clearly indicates that there is a problem that has to be addressed. Fines will be on a sliding scale with a minimal fine for first offence and increasing every time there is a repeat offence.

The Secretary’s report was accepted.

Mr. Schmidt reported on the November meeting.

•    There have been applications from clubs for Associate Membership. 

•    There are ‘new’ State government grants available.

•    Eagles is the sole remaining Cumberland club.

• Mr. Whatson advised that there was no meeting in November with the meeting being deferred until January.

• There are changes mooted in the rules for the Sydney Junior Competition

• Statement of Financial Position was presented.
• Payments were approved.
• Debtors and liabilities were disclosed.

Time Limit -  There was discussion re an Under 12 Leonard game which took considerable time to complete the last innings.  The game took 2¼ hours instead of the 1½  hours allocated.

• Mr. Blundell advised that the game was played according to the Rules.  Kings Langley, being the away side batted first and added more runs to the score line.

• Quakers Hill batted ‘the bottom’.  The situation was made worse by the fact that Kings Langley decided to pitch an inexperienced pitcher in the last innings.

• Mr. Schmidt stated that the way the rules are written the umpire had no choice other than to allow the game to continue to a conclusion.

• Mr. Yard suggested that in similar circumstances, where the team batting second cannot win (trail by more than seven runs) then the game should be ‘called’ at 10.20am with the batter in the box.

East Hills Gala Day – Mr. Power advised that the Rouse Hill Under 10 Petroff League team took part in the East Hills Under 10 Gala Day, where they finished second behind Steelers.