WEST BOWLING have moved a step closer to joining the Dales Council League.

The club, whose home is at Woodhall Playing Fields at Thornbury, have resigned from the Bradford Mutual Sunday School League, where they finished bottom of Group B.

Now their application to join the Dales Council League, which was provisionally accepted a year ago, should be rubber-stamped at the Dales Council League’s annual meeting at Pudsey Congs on Thursday, November 9.

Also at the Dales Council League’s rules revision meeting, a move to get more bowlers involved, proposed by Cookridge and seconded by Adel, will go forward to the annual meeting.

At the moment, clubs can use a minimum of four bowlers per innings (12 overs per bowler maximum).

However, if the limit was dropped to nine overs per bowler, clubs would have to use a minimum of five bowlers per innings.

Cookridge have also proposed, seconded by St Chad’s, to lower the number of overs below Division B (which would affect Division C and Division D) from 45 overs per innings to 40.

The Umpires’ Association have proposed, seconded by Pudsey Congs, to increase umpires’ fees from £40 each to £50 if two umpires are in attendance; from £60 to £70 if only one umpire is in attendance; from £15 to £18 if two umpires are in attendance and the match doesn’t start, and from £15 to £36 if one umpire is in attendance and the game doesn’t start.

A proposal by Cookridge to introduce Duckworth Lewis calculations for rain-affected matches failed to get a seconder and will therefore not go forward to the annual meeting.