CRICKET clubs have been warned to clean up their act by league officials or face disciplinary action.

The warning comes from Burnley and District League secretary Arthur Sagar whose own club Burnley College was reported after the conduct of two players during a league game this season.

It is a problem that has been creeping into league games this season and the league want to nip the problem in the bud before it escalates.

The main problem has been the attitude of players towards umpires, and not agreeing with decisions that have been made.

Now the league has sent out the strongest warning possible in a letter to all clubs in both the league divisions warning them that they will not tolerate it any longer and that they will take the action if the problem continues.

Mr Sagar said: "Two players from my own side have been reported to the league but this has not been an isolated case.

"There does appear to be a problem among players who have continually disagreed with umpires' decisions and we have decided that enough is enough and we will take action if we have to."

The Burnley College players were reported for their conduct during a game against Briercliffe on Saturday, June 26. Mr Sagar added: "The umpires' secretary received a letter about the conduct of the two players and this led to a discussion about several incidents which had occurred in recent games, chiefly the nature of players' attitudes towards umpires decisions.

"We decided that in future, any incident reported by the umpires will be investigated by the committee and players or clubs may face disciplinary action.

"It is in the interest of the game for us all to make an extra effort to cut out minor squabbles which cause unnecessary problems."

In the letter to league members it added that the whole idea of the game is that teams can play cricket and enjoy the game. Teams were reminded that to be a good winner then they must be a good loser.

However Mr Sagar said that since the letters were sent out earlier this month, there had been a marked improvement into the behaviour of players towards umpires.

He said: "I am very pleased to say that since we sent out the letters there have been no reports of misconduct and I am glad to see that players have seen sense. It is very important that we are able to control ourselves on the cricket pitch and I want all teams to keep it up."

The league has also informed clubs that it has amended its substitutions rule following recent problems. In the letter it stated that two cases of teams fielding substitute fielders registered with other teams were brought up at the committee meeting.

This led to the decision that no substitutes should be allowed unless a player is injured. Even then a substituted player must be a registered player of that team.

He added: "We have decided to amend this rule because there appeared to be confusion over the substitute rule in the past, We hope this makes it all a lot clearer and sends out a message that all players have to be registered with the club they are playing for."

Teams are being reminded to send a representative to all league meetings which take place on the last Monday of each month at the IDL Club at 8pm.

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