ARCL Youth’s League: Rules and Regulations
Teams are required to have a copy of these rules to reference during the game
In absence of these rules or if a particular situation is not covered here, neutral umpire’s decision will be final.
If a rule is missing, please email arclorg@arcl.org explaining the situation and we can update the rules as needed.
Rules were last updated on 2/24/2024. The changes are highlighted in yellow and will take into effect from spring 2024 season onwards.
Adding and Registering players
Appendix B (Steps to review/sign/accept the policies)
· Teams are placed in one of the below divisions based on the age of the oldest player, born by May 1st. (examples are given in Appendix A)
o Youth 16 Division (Youths of age 16 and younger)
o Youth 13 Division (Youths of age 13 and younger)
o Youth 10 Division (Youths of age 10 and younger)
· Umpire/ARCL Management has the right to ask for documentation to prove their age. Failure to comply will lead to an automatic forfeit of the match irrespective of match result.
· If a team qualifies for more than 1 division based on the age composition, then we let the team choose the division. Generally, we expect skill set and experience of A division will be higher than B and higher than C respectively. Use that as your guideline to decide the division.
· Format 1 will be used for divisions which has 6 or more teams and Format 2 will be used for divisions with 5 or less teams.
o Format 1 : Top 4 teams in the division will qualify for this format
· Semi 1 à Rank 1 vs. Rank 4
· Semi 2 à Rank 2 vs. Rank 3
· Finals à winner of semi 1 vs winner of semi 2 (Winners will be the Champions and the losing team will be the runners up)
· Plate Finals à Loser of semi 1 vs loser of semi 2 (winner will be 3rd place)
· Team with highest average league points during league phase will be the League Champions
o Format 2 : Top 4 teams in the division will qualify for this format
· Quarter 1 à Rank 1 vs Rank 2
· Quarter 2 à Rank 3 vs Rank 4
· Semi 1 à Loser of Quarter 1 vs Winner of Quarter 2
· Finals à Winner of Quarter 1 vs Winner of Semi 1 (Winners will be the Champions and the losing team will be the runners up)
· 3rd place will be decided between the loser of quarter 2 and losers of semi 1. The team ranked higher in the league phase will be the 3rd place.
· Team with highest average league points during league phase will be the League Champions
o We have been advised by our legal and privacy team to have every player review, sign and accept the privacy policies, terms of service (ToS) and waiver forms. This is in an important step as we grow.
o Starting 2019, all players will have to sign it every year and it is a mandatory requirement. Parents will be signing the documents for players under 18 years of age. (See Appendix K for more details on how to sign it.)
o Players will not appear in the roster and in the scorecard unless they have signed it online. Hence it’s an important to get this legal process done before the league starts.
o As part of Waiver Form you consent that you have read the all the guidelines. We encourage all Youths regardless of the divisions to take all safety precautions – wearing abdomen guards, proper shoes, right clothing etc
· The team needs to register their players on the website for every season. (see Appendix J on how to register players)
· Division Details
|
Division |
No of Players |
Pitch Length |
Ground Size |
No of Overs |
Ball Type |
Super-sub |
|
Youth 16 |
8 |
22 yards |
full |
16 |
Hard Tennis |
No |
|
Youth 13 |
6 |
15 yards |
Half |
12 |
Tape Ball |
Yes |
|
Youth 10 |
6 |
15 yards |
half |
12 |
Tape Ball |
Yes |
· For Youth 16, It’s mandatory that all players will wear abdomen guards while batting and will also take all safety measures as deemed necessary by the coach and manager of the team.
· Coach/Manager are responsible for making sure that the players are wearing all the right security gear while they are on the field.
· Each team must have a minimum 4 players in order to start the game. 12 minutes past the scheduled start time is the cutoff. If both teams don’t have minimum players then match will result in both teams getting 0 points.
· Players can join anytime during the game and can bowl/bat as soon as they join the game. Team can play in substitutes or play with less players (minimum 4 players is required to start the game). The captain needs to explicitly let the umpire and opponent’s captain know that he is expecting players who will be replaced by the substitutes.
· Game should be conducted in the following time frame as grounds are booked for the match duration only and most of the grounds will have back to back bookings.
· Toss will happen 15 minutes before the scheduled start.
· Each over should be completed in 4 minutes. Umpire will notify the captain about the time upkeep at the end of every 4 overs
· Total game time is 100 minutes, 48 minutes for each innings and a 4-minute break between innings
· A delayed start for unavoidable circumstances results in reduction of 1 over (both teams) for every 8 min delay. And this must be enforced by the neutral umpire.
· If a previous game ran over, the next game scheduled must be played with reduced overs.
· Super-sub (for Youth 10 and Youth 13): A team can have up to 8 players in their team for a game. Max of 6 out of these 8 can bat. Similarly, max of 6 out of the same 8 can bowl. All 8 can rotate-in to field while ensuring no more than 6 are on-field at a given time.
· A batting team cannot rotate their batsman by retiring, unless the player genuinely needs to be retired hurt, and approved by neutral umpire
· No last man batting.
· There are no leg byes or LBW’s. All other modes of dismissal of cricket is valid.
· Due to shape of the field, should there be 1-declared, 2-declared scenarios, these should be clearly identified and stay the same for both teams. This is decided by the neutral umpire.
· In the case of 1-declared, the batsman should change ends just as they would have when running a single.
· A bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 overs.
· Regular bowling action is mandatory for all divisions
· It is a dead ball if the ball bounces twice before it reaches the batsman. In such a case, the ball is not counted and the bowler has to redo the ball.
· If a ball is both no-ball and wide then the call will be no-ball and it will be a free-hit.
· Wides:
· It’s a wide ball
1. When the ball is beyond the offside wide crease at the time of passing the wickets.
2. When the ball is outside the leg stump, even if it barely missed the stumps, unless the ball passed between the wickets and the player.
3. When ball passes above the striker’s head standing upright at the popping crease and it’s not a *full pitched delivery. If the batsman is outside the crease, then the umpire will make the call accordingly.
· The width of the wide crease must be the same for both innings, and it is length of one regular sized cricket bat from off stump
· Only for Youth 10 and Youth 13:
· A bowler can bowl a maximum of 5 wides in an over. Subsequent wides in that over is considered dead ball.
· If the bowler bowls 3 consecutive wides or after 5 wides in an over, the captain at that point has the choice to take him off and replace the bowler with another bowler. Note that the bowler still is restricted to a maximum of 4 overs.
· A bowler can bowl a maximum of 5 wides in an over, other balls are considered dead balls.
· If a bowler bowls 3 consecutive wides or 5 wides in total in an over, then the captain has a choice to take him off and replace him/her with another bowler. Note that this bowler is still bound to a maximum of 4 overs.
· If the team has no more bowlers, and cannot complete the over, the batting team is awarded 3 runs for each remaining ball or 15 runs for the over, whichever is higher.
· No Ball:
· It’s a no-ball
1. When no part of the bowlers landing foot is on or behind the bowling crease.
2. When a bowler bowls a bouncer above the height of the batsman (batsman standing height) at the time when the ball is going past the batsman. If the batsman is out of the crease, then it’s the umpire’s call.
3. When a bowler puts wicket down at his end during delivery, and he delivers the ball, it will be signaled as NO BALL by the bowler's end umpire. If bowler does not deliver the ball, it will be signaled as DEAD BALL by the bowler's end umpire.
4. When a bowler bowls a *full pitched delivery. The umpire will caution the bowler and inform the other umpire, batsmen and the captain of the fielding side. If the same bowler bowls a second full pitched delivery in the innings the umpire will signal a no-ball and will give a final warning to the bowler. After a third incident, the umpire will signal no-ball and suspend the bowler from bowling in that innings.
· Every no ball results in a free hit. If the free hit is a no ball, then it results in an additional free hit.
· In a free hit, the field placement cannot be changed unless the batsman have changed ends
· A bowler shall be limited to two **fast short-pitched deliveries per over. Consequent ** fast short pitched deliveries will be called a no-ball.
*Full pitched delivery definition -- (i)Any delivery,
other than a slow paced one, which passes or would have passed on the full
above waist height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease is
(ii) A slow delivery which passes or would have passed on the full above shoulder
height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease
** A fast short-pitched delivery is defined as a ball that passes or would have passed above the shoulder height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease
o Fair delivery with respect to the arm: A ball is fairly delivered in respect of the arm if, once the bowler's arm has reached the level of the shoulder in the delivery swing, the elbow joint is not straightened partially or completely from that point until the ball has left the hand. This definition shall not debar a bowler from flexing or rotating the wrist in the delivery swing.
o 101 on chucking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmXEtV6e2Nk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2shrhaOWlQ
o Current regulations of the International Cricket Council (ICC) set the legal limit of 15 degrees of permissible straightening of the elbow joint for all bowlers in international cricket. This law applies between the point at which the bowling arm passes above shoulder height and the point at which the ball is released. The limit is to allow some natural flexing of the elbow joint which happens during the course of legal delivery.
o Below are images where the arm is bent and then it straightens out. It’s difficult to say whether it is within 15 degrees of variance with naked in real time or in a video.
o When the batsman appeals for chucking action, the neutral umpire will take the position of leg umpire for few deliveries. The umpire will not be able to see the 15 degrees variation with naked eye or in a video. The only thing the umpire can see is a bigger variation like throw action similar to when a fielder throws the ball or like a baseball throw, something which is much greater than 15 degrees variation. If the umpire sees such a big variance then he can give a warning and from the second occurrence onwards he can call no-ball. The umpire can choose to stand at the leg umpire position for as long as he wants to monitor the chucking.
|
Points |
Formula based on teams score |
|
1 |
> 50% and <= 60% of winning teams score |
|
2 |
> 60% and <= 70% of winning teams score |
|
3 |
> 70% and <= 80% of winning teams score |
|
4 |
> 80% and <= 90% of winning teams score |
|
5 |
> 90% of winning teams score |
|
Points |
Formula based on teams run rate |
|
1 |
> 50% and <= 60% of winning teams run rate |
|
2 |
> 60% and <= 70% of winning teams run rate |
|
3 |
> 70% and <= 80% of winning teams run rate |
|
4 |
> 80% and <= 90% of winning teams run rate |
|
5 |
> 90% of winning teams run rate |
|
Points |
No of wickets (8 players / team) |
No of wickets (6 players / team) |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
3 |
5 |
3 |
|
4 |
6 |
4 |
|
5 |
7 |
5 |
At the end of the season, the awardees will be displayed on the website under your division.
· 1st Place Team Trophy + Individual Trophies
· 2nd Place Team Trophy + Individual Trophies
· 3rd Place Team Trophy + Individual Trophies
· League champions Team Trophy + Individual Trophies (If they are not 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Place team))
· Best Batsman – top 3 batsman based on points. 1 point is awarded for 1 run.
· Best Bowler – top 3 bowlers based on points. 10 points are awarded for 1 wicket.
· Best Allrounder – top 3 allrounders based on points. 1 point is awarded for 1 run. 10 points are awarded for 1 wicket.
Note: If there are multiple players with same points in the individual award categories (Best batsman, bowler, allrounder) then all players with same points will get the award.
· Team No-Show
· Team is considered as ‘no-show’ if the team fails to show up for their allocated game or forfeits the match or if the team is more than 12 minutes late for the allocated game.
· If there is a “no-show” then the team will have to login to the website and mark the game as no-show. Below penalties will be immediately reflected on the website.
· $250 monetary fine
· 10 points to be deducted from overall points
· 3 additional umpiring at ARCL’s discretion.
· The team will be demoted to the last division.
· The deadline to mark the game as no-show is same as the scorecard deadline. Failure to do so within the deadline would mean that the team has agreed to not penalize the defaulting team
· External interference Penalty
· Quality of umpiring
· Umpire No-Show/Showing up Late Penalty
· Umpire is considered as ‘no-show’ if the umpiring team fails to send an umpire for their allocated game or forfeits the umpiring or if the umpire is more than 12 minutes late for the allocated umpire
· If there is a “no-show” then one of the teams will have to login to the website and mark the umpiring as no-show. Below penalties will be immediately reflected on the website. .
· $50 monetary fine
· 10 points deducted from overall points
· 3 additional umpiring at ARCL’s discretion.
· The deadline to mark the umpiring no-show is same as the scorecard deadline. Failure to do so within the deadline would mean that teams have agreed to not penalize the defaulting team
· Scorecard Penalty
· Scorecard needs to be uploaded on the website by TUESDAY @11pm through ARCL Website/phone app. Every team will be given 1 exception per season if they report it the next day. ARCL will upload the scorecard on their behalf and the team(s) who is (are) asking the exception will be fined maximum 3 umpirings and/or $50 fine depending on their case. Second default in a season by the same team will not be accepted and both teams will lose all their points for that match.
· Playing for Multiple Teams Penalty
· Misconduct Penalty
· Ground Ethics/Leaving Garbage in the Field Penalty
· Only Div A teams can send players as the main umpires. For all other divisions, parents/coaches need to do the umpiring assignment and they can bring a player to stand in as a leg umpire for coaching purpose.
· Neutral umpires should be on the ground 15 minutes before the game starts. After 15 minutes it will be regarded as no-show by the umpire and penalties will be applied (see penalty section for more details)
· You can be asked to umpire for any team in any division. To check the Schedule, on the ARCL website, click on your division and on Left Side Click on Schedule to see all the umpiring assignments and schedule fixtures.
· Each team can be asked to umpire up to 5 games in a season.
· Each game will have a neutral umpire. The neutral umpiring is done by another team randomly selected by ARCL.
· Neutral umpire’s decision is FINAL.
· We would also like to remind teams to send umpires who are aware of ARCL rules and regulations and should be able to control situation if it goes out of hand. If a team needs more information on this feel free to contact the ARCL.
· Teams are encouraged to provide feedback on the quality of umpiring (both good and bad). This will help ARCL keep track of individual umpires and can follow up with teams if needed.
· Teams should send a neutral umpire who can control the game.
· Neutral umpire needs to be aware of all incidents during the game for the week the game was played in. In case of disputes ARCL will reach out to the neutral umpire and the expectation is that neutral umpire should be aware of final score (total runs/wickets/over played) for both teams. Neutral umpire is not expected to remember individual player scores etc but overall stats are required. Also in case of disputes neutral umpire needs to be crisp on his stance.
· Neutral umpire needs to warn the teams/players on the very first account of bad conduct which includes -- direct sledging, excessive appealing, excessive shouting/yelling, abusive language and bad gestures. The warning has to be given in front of both captains, leg umpire and offending player(s). If the team/players continue to play the game in misconduct way, the umpire has the authority to send the player(s) off the field or stop the match and award the match to other team. If both the teams are found guilty of misconduct, the umpire can stop the game and walk off. The offending teams/players will get penalized (see penalty section for more details)
· Neutral umpire can override leg umpire’s decision.
· It is the responsibility of neutral umpire to ensure the game starts and ends on time.
· The neutral umpire should deduct 1 over for every 4 minutes the game is delayed.
· It is NOT the responsibility of the neutral umpire to set up the field for the game. The playing teams should set that up. The neutral umpire should however ensure the teams set up the field in a timely manner and start on time.
· Unless there is an emergency, the neutral umpire should umpire the game for the entire time.
· Neutral umpire can also consult the leg umpire in case of any issues on the field (e.g. whether the ball touched the batsman body to help in judging wide or was there a sound of bat edge etc.)
· Neutral umpire can allow a batsman to have a runner even if the opposing captain is not willing to make such accommodation.
· Leg umpire during league games will be from the batting team.
· The leg umpire can have a discussion around the rules and/or reason for a decision with the umpire and share thoughts, however the neutral umpire decision is final
· Leg umpire can give only three decisions – run out on batsman end, waist high no-balls and above the head wides. He/she can give those decisions w/o consulting main umpire. He can be overridden by main umpire.
· The schedule (games and umpiring) will be uploaded by 5pm Friday for the following week. Once the schedule is uploaded, any changes to it will be specifically notified by ARCL members via email and phone.
· The schedule could change before Friday so make sure to check the schedule after Friday @5 to avoid any problems.
· ARCL will not change the schedule, once it is uploaded on the site, if the teams want to change it by talking to other teams (both opponent and umpiring teams) they can do so but ARCL will bear no responsibility if there are any concerns/issues later on. The teams would have to bear the ground responsibility as well. If for some reason (miss-communication, no-show by either team, no-show by umpire etc.) the match was abandoned then both the teams will get zero points for that match and they will be penalized with 20 points each. If the match was abandoned due to bad weather, then the bad weather rule will apply.
· The only exception to a schedule being changed after Wednesday 5 pm is when there is a scheduling error by ARCL. In that case ARCL will take appropriate actions to fix the schedule and notify the teams involved about this change accordingly.
· Teams can request for games not to be scheduled BEFORE schedule is out and ARCL will try its best to accommodate them if possible. However, ARCL cannot provide any guarantees if it will be able to accommodate such requests.
· If all teams are playing on a given weekend no exceptions will be made.
· There will be no games scheduled on thanksgiving weekend, long weekend and year end weekend. In case of 4th of July holiday (since it can fall on week day), we will pick the nearest weekend to 4th of July. If 4th of July falls on Monday and Tuesday no games will be played on Saturday and Sunday before but if it falls on Wed, Thu and Friday then no games will be played on the following week.
· No exception will be made for any religious event other than the ones mentioned above.
· Umpiring and game for a team will only be on the same day if the umpiring and game is back to back
· ARCL reserves the right to assign umpiring assignments based on penalties any day/time they want
· A team can have an umpiring when they do not have a game any weekend though so teams need to check the schedule
· For transparency we are publishing how the games are scheduled and what considerations we take into account when scheduling games:
· Every team has +/-1 morning matches at the end of the league
· Every team has +/-1 morning umpiring at the end of the league
· Every team has +/-1 umpiring at the end of the league
· Every team has +/-1 matches scheduled every league
· Games WILL go on if there is a typical Seattle drizzle. Only the neutral umpire can call the games off.
· In case of a dispute on whether the game should be called off or not, the decision of neutral umpire will be considered final.
· Safety is first priority and neutral umpire will make the call to stop the game
· If a league match is stopped due to bad weather and it’s below 3/4th of completion then the match will be termed as abandon -- it will be considered as “not played” and both teams will get zero points.
· If the match is abandon then the team will have to login to the website and mark the game as abandon.
· The deadline to mark the game as abandon is same as the scorecard deadline. Failure to do so within the deadline would mean the “failure to upload the scorecard” penalty will kick in automatically and both teams will get zero points and the match will be counted as played and it will impact the average
· If a playoff match is stopped due to bad weather and it’s below 3/4th of completion then the team with the highest average points during league phase will win.
· All games (league or playoffs) which are stopped due to bad weather and it’s beyond 3/4 of completion then the team with higher run rate wins the match.
· All Games (league or playoffs) that are affected due to WEATHER or circumstances that are not in ARCL’s control will NOT be rescheduled.
· When there has been a mistake on part of ARCL (e.g. scheduling conflict, ground not reserved etc.), ARCL will reschedule that game.
· ARCL reserves the right to investigate and propose alternate solution in case of extreme situations. In this case ARCL will communicate its stance to the affected teams.
· For games in Microsoft ground, we will follow the Grass Lawn cancellation policy.
· There are two options given below. The team must obey the following rules irrespective of the option chosen:
· Option 1: Find another team/match for a swap from any division or play on some other day
· ARCL need confirmation from all impacted teams (including umpiring team) and booking confirmation
· Game should finish within one week of original schedule.
· Game shouldn’t impact any other schedule
· Once game is confirmed, it can’t be rescheduled due to unforeseen reasons (like rain, snow, storm, etc.). Otherwise it will be unfair with other teams who had match abandoned due to same reasons.
· Option 2: ARCL will try to adjust to team’s schedule request if below criteria are met:
· The request has to be sent to schedule@arcl.org before the registration deadline for that season.
· It has to be an unavoidable situation like company events, one off events etc. where 4 or more players are unavailable. You have supply proof. It cannot be player unavailability due to injury, vacation, other league participation etc.
· Upon verification ARCL will try to adjust the request in the schedule but it doesn’t guarantee that it will be met. There are times when all teams are playing every weekend or your match is a long pole in the schedule and moving it would entail delaying entire league’s schedule or ground unavailability, ground shortage etc.
· For every request fulfilled, teams will have to do 2 additional umpiring
· It is the responsibility of BOTH teams to keep a copy of scorecard and make sure it is submitted in a timely manner.
· We recommend taking a picture of the scorecard after the game via smartphone and keep it for your records.
· If any team has concerns around scorecard inconsistency they need to bring it to ARCL’s notice by Friday 11pm for the same week the game was played otherwise the scorecard will be considered final and no changes will be made.
· Any issues on uploading the scorecard need to be brought up BEFORE the deadline.
· $175 for entire kit
o $20 for tape
o $10 for cones
o $40 for stumps
o $55 for bag
· Youth’s Bat $30
· Hard tennis Balls- will be distributed by ARCL at league start. Additional cost is $20 per dozen
· Hard tennis Balls- will be distributed by ARCL at league start. Additional Tape balls $20 per dozen
Appendix J (Adding and Registering players)
Steps to register existing players in your team:
1. log-in
2. Click on “Register Players”
3. All your players from last season will appear in the left box.
4. From the left box, select only those players who are going to play for this season and move it to the right box
5. Click “Save Registration Details”
Steps to register new players in your team
1. log-in
2. Click on “Register Players”
3. Enter the player name in the search box and click “Search”. Results will appear in the left box.
4. Click on your player in the left box and move it to right box
5. Click “Save Registration Details”
Steps to add and register players who are playing ARCL for the first time:
1. log-in
2. Click on “Add Players”
3. Add player details and click “Confirm changes”
· Playoff phase refers to any games played after the league phase. Examples -- quarters, semis, finals, plate finals and IPL format playoffs.
· 3/4 match -- in case of 12 overs match, 3/4th match means 12 overs of first innings and 6 overs of the second innings
Below are examples of eligibility to play
in a division in all seasons in 2017
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Age calculator -- http://www.calculator.net/age-calculator.html
Appendix K (Steps to review/sign/accept the policies)
1. Captain/team contacts will login to the website using team’s credentials.
2. Click on “Update Player details “link. On this page you can also see the status of players who have signed the policies.
3. For every player, click on “update” link and add their email address which will be used as their login id.
4. Ask your players to “Sign up” on the website using the above email address. Upon signup, the player will get a link in his inbox from arclorg@arcl.org (check your junk folder). Click on the link to create password and login to the website
5. Once the player is logged in, click on “Player Privacy policies, Waiver Agreement, Terms of Service” link, go through the policies, sign and accept them.
By playing in ARCL, the players and their parents/guardians agree to above rules and regulations and any decisions made by ARCL. The decision by ARCL members for any issues will be final and teams will have to abide by them.