DIVISIONS, GROUPS & SCHEDULES:

The NJSBCL has 72 teams registered for the year 2011 season. League grew once again from 66 teams last year. Few more teams had to be said “NO” as we did not have enough grounds to accommodate all. Consistent with the general formatting guidelines published last year, this season also league will be following a two division format.

The general format for this season is as follows: The 72 teams for the season will be divided into two divisions, Division-1 and Division-2. Division-1 is the upper tier division and the count is being restricted to 32 teams and Division-2 is going to have 40 teams.

Based on previous year’s performance, teams from 2010 that registered again were split into the two divisions mentioned above while all the new teams will be playing in Division-2. As announced during 2009 season, there will once again be no mid-season moves between divisions this season.

In 2011, both divisions will start league matches simultaneously on Saturday, April 23 and follow individual formats through the season to accommodate for different number of teams. All teams in Division-1 will get to play at least 18 matches in Round-1 and Round-2 while the Division-2 teams will play at least 19 matches all in Round-1 before the knockout rounds. The top sixteen teams from each division will qualify to knockout rounds and play for their Division Championships. The knockout rounds are scheduled from mid-September to first week of October. Due to increased match schedules in the regular season the available time for the knock out rounds is short. All teams in playoffs are expected to be flexible with scheduling. If required, teams have to play back-to-back matches on the same weekend or back-to-back matches on the same day. The EC’s decisions will be final during the knockout rounds.

LEAGUE SEASON:

The cricket season shall comprise of two competitions as listed below:

1. The NJBSCL Championship for Division-1: Their season will consist of a Round-1 and Round-2 of the regular season followed by the knock-out rounds.

2. The NJBSCL Championship for Division-2: The season will consist of a Round-1 of regular season followed by the knock-out rounds.

Additionally, the league may conduct 8x8 tournaments during the Independence Day and Memorial Day weekends. If weather permits, such tournaments will be scheduled after the end of the regular season also.

LEAGUE FORMAT:

The NJSBCL League Championship will be run as follows:

1. All games shall be limited to a maximum of sixteen (16) overs per inning.

2. Ten (10) points shall be awarded for a win.

3. Five (5) points for a Draw or Tie (Tie is defined as both teams scoring the same number of runs regardless of number of balls/over bowled or number of fallen wickets. Draw occurs when the game is called-off by neutral umpires or EC due to un-playable conditions or un-foreseen circumstances).

Addendum to the Format 2010 -

(Updated Aug 20, 2010)

After the schedule was published for 2010 season, majority of the teams in both divisions felt that reducing games to 12 from 18 of previous season is not what they want. All teams favored playing more games compared to reduction in games. So league amended the schedule in April end / May beginning of 2010 . The revised format for 2010 is as follows –

Pools:

In each Division, there are two round robin rounds for qualifying to knock out stage In Division 1, the 32 teams are divided into two pools AB and CD of 16 teams each & in Division 2, the 34 teams are divided into two pools- AB with 18 teams and pool CD with 16 teams each

Round 1:

In round 1, teams in pool AB will play 15 games within their pool (all pool AB teams play against all other pool AB teams)

In round 1, teams in pool CD will play 15 games within their pool (in Div1, all pool CD teams play against all other teams within their pool ). At the end of the round 1, teams are ranked from 1 to 16 within AB and also within CD based on their performance. No team will go out of the tournament at this stage. Points & H2H will be carried forward from round 1 to round 2; NRR will be carried forward from round 1 to round 2

Round 2:

All 16 teams of combined AB will play against 4 teams of combined CD and vice versa as per schedule. At end of this round 2, combined ABCD teams will be ranked. Top 8 teams from combined ABCD will qualify to play in the knock out stage for Championships

There will be no Pre-Quarter Finals in 2010 season in this revised format since the number of games were increased from 12 to 19 for every team and also since we had to push out the Finals date to October 10 from October 3 as a result of this revision in schedule.

Quarter Finals, Semi Finals & Finals:

In both Division 1 & Division 2, top 8 ranked teams will move to the Quarter Finals play offs. Winners qualify for the Semi Finals - Knockout round, winners qualify to Finals.

Division 2 will follow the exact same format through out the season as Division 1 with slight adjustments to take care of the increased number of teams in Division 2 (over Division 1)

(2010 Scheduling Team proposed the method mentioned in 8.1.a and 8.1.b of the Format document for Scheduling and movement between two Divisions for 2011 season. But this would have to be discussed & ratified by the EC for 2011 season before 2011 schedule is published)

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The NJSBCL has 66 teams registered for this year. League grew by 30% year over year. Consistent with the general formatting guidelines published last year, this season also league will be following a two division format. The general format for this season is as follows –

1. The 66 teams for the season will be divided into TWO DIVISIONS as announced last season – Division 1 count is being increased to 32 teams and Division 2 to 34 teams.
2. Based on last year’s performance, old teams would be split into the two divisions. New teams will be starting off in Division 2.

3. Division 1 this year will have 26 teams who went to round 2 of Division 1 last year plus four teams that moved from Division 2 to Division 1 mid-season last year and the two Division 2 finalists from last year
4. Division 2 will have the balance teams from last year’s Division 2, plus eighteen new teams
5. Both divisions will start simultaneously on April 17, 2010 and follow the same format through the season.

6. As announced last season, there will be no mid-season moves between divisions this season.

7. In the schedule for this season, maximum teams will get to play a minimum of 16 games in the season which will run through September middle.

8. Based on total number of teams registered for 2011 season, # of teams in Division 1 for season 2011 will be capped at 24 or 32 teams. Teams that move from division 2 to division 1 for 2011 season will be determined using the below two methods –

1.a) If division 1 team count is capped at 32 for next season, bottom 6 ranked teams at end of round 3 (27 to 32) will move to division 2 for next season. In this instance, top 6 teams which include the two finalists and four combined ABCD top ranked teams at end of round 2 will move to division 1. If the two finalists are from the combined ABCD top four, the next two ranked teams (ranks 6 & 7) will move to division 1 for 2011 season

1.b) If division 1 team count is capped at 24 for next season, bottom 4 ranked teams at end of round 3 this season (21 to 24) will move to division 2 for next season. In this instance, top 4 teams which include the two div 2 finalists of 2010 season and two combined ABCD top ranked teams at end of round 2 will move to division 1 for next season. If finalists are from the top two ranked teams at end of round 2, next two ranked teams (3 & 4) will move to division 1 for next season (these four teams get to jump over teams ranked 25 to 32 at end of round 3 of 2010 division 1 for next season. This is put in place to enable a move between two divisions from season to season)

This also sets the bench mark for next few years as bottom 4 or 6 teams from Division 1 will move to Division 2 at the end of the season and top 4 or 6 teams will move to Division 1 from Division 2 at the end of this season, for next year.

9. As announced last season, this season also, there would be NO RESCHEDULING of matches due to weather related incidents. Points will be split for all those matches. (Details on the criteria for splitting of points, start time of matches on grounds with permit that ends before 11AM are all posted in the rule book which would be published by the league)

Even though league has strived to be consistent on formatting from last season to this season, certain changes were necessary to fine tune the format for reasons mentioned below -
1. Increase Div 1 count to 32 from 26 – to maintain a manageable number and equal distribution of teams in both divisions; to ensure league accounts for year over year growth / reduction of team registrations and still maintain a balance between two multiple divisions. It makes the season more competitive and challenging for all teams and gives an equal chance for all teams to win either Division 1 OR Division 2 Championship

2. Reduction in round robin games to 12 from 18 for all teams for qualifying to knock out rounds - to share the limited availability of grounds among all the teams (16 of the 18 new teams this season has no new home ground to bring to the league) schedule had to be staggered between the two divisions. And by reducing number of matches and avoiding re-scheduling of rained out games, players get more weekends to enjoy with their family in addition to the long weekend breaks

3. Not moving bottom six of 2009 division 1 teams to division 2 for 2010 – As mentioned in point one above, in line with the growth of the league year over year and to maintain a balance between two divisions, division 1 count was increased to 32 from 26 which needed cancellation of the bottom six move from division 1 to division 2 from 2009 to 2010

4. No re-scheduling - Avoid re-scheduling issues, conflicts of neutral umpires, paying for neutral umpires on re-scheduled days – a lot of contentious issues are eliminated with this format.

These changes take into account any changes in the league registrations in the future seasons and will be the basis of a consistent format for years to come. We have dwelled on this format from all possible angles and fine tuned it and it was felt that this format will help NJSBCL establish and grow further and ensure a smooth & seamless 2010 Season.The schedule is posted in an excel format in the NJleague yahoo groups and at the www.njsbcl.com website.

Pools:

In each Division, there are two round robin rounds for qualifying to knock out stage

In Division 1, the 32 teams are divided into four pools A, B, C & D of 8 teams each & in Division 2, the 34 teams are divided into four pools A & B with 8 teams and C & D with 9 teams each.

Round 1:

In round 1, teams in pool A will play 8 games with teams from pool B (all pool A teams play against all pool B teams)

In round 1, teams in pool C will play 8 games with teams from pool D (in Div1, all pool C teams play against all pool D teams and in Div2, all pool C teams play random 8 teams from pool D). At the end of the round 1, combined AB and combined CD ranking is done for all teams based on their performance. No team will go out of the tournament at this stage. Points & H2H will be carried forward from round 1 to round 2; NRR is not carried forward from round 1 to round 2

Round 2:

All 16 teams of combined AB will play against 4 teams of combined CD and vice versa as per schedule. At end of this round 2, combined ABCD teams will be ranked. Top 16 teams from combined ABCD will qualify to play in the knock out stage for Championships

Round 3:

No points, NRR or H2H are carried forward from round 2 to round 3. Teams ranked 33 and 34 in Division 2 at end of round 2 will exit the tournament at this stage and will not participate in round 3 games. In Div 1 & Div 2, teams ranked 17 to 32 at end of round 2 will be divided into two groups of 16. Each team in a group will play four games with teams from opposite group. The results of round 3 will be used for end of season ranking of teams 17 to 32 in Division 1 and Division 2.

Pre-Quarter Finals:

In both divisions, the teams ranked 1 to 16 from combined ABCD at the end of round 2, will move into the Pre-Quarter Finals.These 16 teams will play the pre-Quarter Finals in both Divisions.

Quarter Finals, Semi Finals & Finals:

In both Division 1 & Division 2, top 8 teams who are the winners of the pre-Quarter Finals knock out round will move to the Quarter Finals play offs.Winners qualify for the Semi Finals - Knockout round, winners qualify to Finals.

Division 2 will follow the exact same format through out the season as Division 1.

Grounds:

Due to the increase of the number of teams participating, the numbers of ground available are less than last year, hence the league management expects co-operation and flexibility from the participating teams on this issue. On the issue of multiple teams playing on the same ground, we expect the concerned teams to work out amicable solution based on the published schedule. The EC will not be arbitrator for those situations. The team which has a permit from the local government body will be considered as Home team by the EC. Since this season we have more teams participating in the league from North Jersey & South Jersey, we found it advantageous to utilize the grounds available in North & South Jersey as well.This year EC has determined only the teams that are outside of New Jersey would be considered as travel teams. All teams based in New Jersey will be considered a regular team – even if they are based in North Jersey or South Jersey.The following are the travel teams for this season. These teams will not be awarded any home games, these teams have to travel to opposing teams ground for playing matches. To compensate, these teams will not have any umpiring duties.

The Legends, Tornadoes, Shaheen CC

Rescheduling, Rained out games & Delayed Start:

There will NO re-scheduling of games that are disrupted due to rains, wet ground conditions or due to eviction. In all grounds with a permit, games should be started at least 3 hours before the permitted time ends. The earliest start time is 7.30AM and latest is 8.45AM. For details on points awarded on disrupted games, please refer the 2010 Rule Book.

As in last season, once the start time is decided before the weekend of the match, if one of the team is arriving late, that team will lose 1 over (this is applicable for home team and away team) for every 5 minutes of delayed start while batting This is to ensure that on all grounds with permitted times of play, matches get underway and get completed on time without disruption. The decision to deduct overs will be taken by the neutral umpires.

Neutral Umpires:

Each assigned participating team has to provide 2 volunteer umpires for assigned games for round 1, round 2 and round 3; the league will maintain a pool of paid umpires if the umpiring team wants to hire someone from that pool. Failure to provide umpires will result in deduction of 5 points and penalty of 40 dollars. It is mandatory for umpires to be conversant with the rule book and carry a copy of the rule book with them for the match.

Non Participation in scheduled Game:

It was observed last year that some teams had not shown any interest in executing the scheduled games due to non qualification to next round. Forfeiture of scheduled games will be viewed seriously this year and may result in expulsion of the team from the league and/or Ban for next 2 years.

Player restrictions:

A player can play only from 1 team for the season 2010 – including both Division 1 & Division 2; each team must maintain this discipline for successful completion of games this year.

Website:

Our league home on the internet is http://www.njsbcl.com, which should work as our communication channel for the year 2010. Please use this website for communications, score sheet updates and all other information purpose. The FAQ section offers the complete functionality of the website with training documents. This should be used as the point of communication. Any queries to the EC should be send to ec@njsbcl.com

Registration & Waiver Form:

All players including captain, vice captain and manager of all teams should complete the online Registration & Waiver form and submit to the EC as a mandatory legal requirement. It is the captain’s responsibility to ensure that all the players of the team registered before the first match is played. A new player has to register and accept waiver first before he plays. All players MUST complete the electronic form available in the website www.njsbcl.com . All the teams must provide at least 2 contact #s on the website. To ensure security, only logged in NJSBCL members would be able to view the contact details of any team.

The NJSBCL has 52 teams registered for this year. Considering the growth of the league every year, the EC deliberated over the last so many days on how to make the league more manageable and in line with ICC and other league formats internationally. As a result, the following changes are being implemented this year –

1. The 52 teams for the season will be divided into TWO DIVISIONS of 26 teams each – Division 1 & Division 2.
   
2. Based on last year’s performance, old teams would be split into the two divisions. New teams will be starting off in Division 2.
   
3. Division 1 will have 24 teams who went to round 2 of Main league last year plus Platers finalists or semi / quarter finalists from last year
   
4. Division 2 will have the balance teams from last year’s Main league & Platers, plus nine new teams
   
5. Both divisions will start simultaneously on April 18, 2009 and follow the same format through the season.
   
6. As a result there will be no Platers this season but all 52 teams will get to play a minimum of 18 games which will run till September middle.
   
7. Since this is the first season NJSBCL is using this format, to allow teams that perform extremely well in Division 2 to compete for the Division 1 cup this year, top four teams from Division 2 will move into Division 1 play-offs as the wild cards. Simultaneously, bottom four teams from Division 1 will move to Division 2 during the play offs.
   
8. This also sets the bench mark for next few years as bottom 6 teams from Division 1 will move to Division 2 at the end of the season and top 6 will move to Division 1 at the end of this season, for next year.
   
9. Another important change that is being made as a result of this format is that from this season onwards, there would be NO RESCHEDULING of matches due to weather related incidents. Points will be split for all those matches. (Details on the criteria for splitting of points, start time of matches on grounds with permit that ends before 11AM are all posted in the rule book which would be published this week)
   

The advantages of these changes are -

1. This format sets the tone for the season right at the start of the year
   
2. It gives a chance to all teams to play an extended season
   
3. It makes the season more competitive and challenging for all teams and gives an equal chance for all teams to win either Division 1 OR Division 2 Championship.
   
4. This format mirrors all major International tournaments with more than 40 teams.
   
5. It helps the avoid creating new schedules every year, as this becomes a benchmark
   
6. By increasing number of matches, and avoiding re-scheduling of rained out games, the long weekend breaks will be actual breaks to be spent with family!
   
7. Avoid re-scheduling issues, conflicts of neutral umpires, paying for neutral umpires on re-scheduled days – a lot of contentious issues are eliminated with this format.

We have dwelled on this format from all possible angles and fine tuned it and it was felt that this format will help NJSBCL establish and grow further and ensure a smooth & seamless 2009 Season. The schedule is posted as an excel file in the NJleague yahoogroups and will be posted in the website.


Round 1:
In each Division, there are two phases to round 1.
In Division 1, the 26 teams are divided into two pools A & B of 13 teams each & in Division 2, teams are divided into two pools C & D of 13 teams each.

Round 1 – Phase 1:
In the first phase of round 1, each participating team will play 12 games within their pool as per the schedule. At the end of the phase 1, all 26 teams will be ranked based on their performance of the first phase of round 1. No team will go out of the tournament at this stage.

Round 1 – Phase 2:
All 13 teams of pool A will play against 6 teams of pool B and vice versa as per schedule. At the end of these six games, round 1 will finish. Division 1 teams will be ranked from 1 to 26 based on the total round 1 performance.


Pre-Quarter Finals:
The teams ranked 1 to 12 from combined AB at the end of round 1, will move into the Pre-Quarter Finals. They will be joined by four wild card teams from Division 2 who had followed the same format till then. These four teams from Division 2, will be the teams that are ranked 1 to 4 at the end of round 1 in Division 2.
At the same time, teams ranked 23 to 26 in Division 1 will move to Division 2 to play the pre-Quarter Finals along with teams ranked 5 to 16 in Division 2.
These 16 teams will play the pre-Quarter Finals in both Divisions.


Quarter Finals, Semi Finals & Finals:
In both Division 1 & Division 2, top 8 teams who are the winners of the pre-Quarter Finals knock out round will move to the Quarter Finals play offs. Winners qualify for the Semi Finals - Knockout round, winners qualify to Finals.

Division 2 will follow the exact same format through out the season as Division 1. They will start with pools C & D in round 1 and will end with Division 2 Championship Finals.


Grounds:
Due to the increase of the number of teams participating, the numbers of ground available are less than last year, hence the league management expects co-operation and flexibility from the participating teams on this issue. On the issue of multiple teams playing on the same ground, we expect the concerned teams to work out amicable solution based on the published schedule. The EC will not be arbitrator for those situations. The team which has a permit from the local government body will be considered as Home team by the EC. Since this season we have more teams participating in the league from North Jersey, we found it advantageous to utilize the grounds available in North Jersey as well. This year EC has determined only the teams that are outside of New Jersey would be considered as travel teams. All teams based in New Jersey will be considered a regular team – even if they are based in North Jersey or South Jersey. The following are the travel teams for this season. These teams will not be awarded any home games, these teams have to travel to opposing teams ground for playing matches. To compensate, these teams will not have any umpiring duties.
The Legends, Stumperz


Rescheduling, Rained out games & Delayed Start:
There will NOre-scheduling of games that are disrupted due to rains, wet ground conditions or due to eviction. In all grounds with a permit, games should be started at least 3 hours before the permitted time ends. The earliest start time is 7.30AM and latest is 8.45AM. For details on points awarded on disrupted games, please refer the 2009 Rule Book.
Another important update for this season is that once the start time is decided before the weekend of the match, if one of the team is arriving late, that team will lose 1 over (this is applicable for home team and away team) for every 5 minutes of delayed start while batting This is to ensure that on all grounds with permitted times of play, matches get underway and get completed on time without disruption. The decision to deduct overs will be taken by the neutral umpires.


Neutral Umpires:
Each assigned participating team has to provide 2 volunteer umpires for assigned games for round 1 – both phase 1 and phase 2; the league will maintain a pool of paid umpires if the umpiring team wants to hire someone from that pool. Failure to provide umpires will result in deduction of 5 points and penalty of 40 dollars per umpire. It is mandatory for umpires to be conversant with the rule book and carry a copy of the rule book with them for the match.


Non Participation in scheduled Game:
It was observed last year that some teams had not shown any interest in executing the scheduled games due to non qualification to next round. Forfeiture of scheduled games will be viewed seriously this year and may result in expulsion of the team from the league and/or Ban for next 2 years.


Player restrictions:
A player can play only from 1 team for the season 2009 – including both Division 1 & Division 2; each team must maintain this discipline for successful completion of games this year.