Second XIs could step up under proposals

WEST of England Premier League (WEPL) member clubs are being asked to consider radical restructuring proposals that could come into place for the 2012 season.

Clubs within the administrative boundaries of Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire last week received a nine-page document from Paul Bedford, the ECB’s head of non-first-class cricket, detailing possible changes to the eight-division competition, which involves 80 first XIs and 70 second XIs.

Somerset Division second teams currently play within their own county structure and do not form part of the plan.

Reasons given for looking into the changes include ensuring meaningful competition for second teams, minimising travel to sustain participation, and allowing clubs to find “the level deserving to their players”.

The first proposal on the table is to retain the existing set-up. The second has been titled “Straight Through” and sees the redrawing of divisions feeding into the Glos & Wilts and Bristol & Somerset competitions.

Under this suggestion, the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol & North Somerset divisions would be swept away. Second and third divisions would instead be created for the Glos & Wilts and Bristol & Somerset strands of the pyramid. But the most radical aspect of this proposal would see Premier Division second teams, which currently play in the shadow second XI structure, instead facing lower-level WEPL first XIs.

Using the 2009 final standings as a guide, this would see Frenchay in the proposed Glos & Wilts Division Three alongside the second XIs of Thornbury and Cheltenham, as well as the first strings of sides such as Bredon, Woodmancote, Stone and Goatacre.

The proposed Glos & Wilts Division Two, again taking 2009 positions as its starting point, would envisage Winterbourne and Chipping Sodbury taking on second teams from Corsham, Frocester and Chippenham, as well as the first XIs of Lechlade, Lydney, Kingsholm and Winsley.

The third proposal by the ECB puts forward the opportunity for free promotion and relegation for second XIs within the whole WEPL structure.

At present, second teams sit in shadow divisions occupied by their first XIs, except within Premier One and Premier Two.

The clubs, who have also been asked to put forward ideas of their own for restructuring, have until Friday, August 27 to make their views known.

Any proposed changes would go forward to a vote in January. And if a new structure was agreed, it would come into force for the 2012 season.