WORRIES that some grounds may not be fit until May has prompted the Timothy Taylor’s Craven League executive committee to take action.

After a particularly wet winter, and the prospect of more rain to come, there are fears that some clubs may not be able to play on either of the first two scheduled Saturdays - April 20 or 27.

After a league executive committee meeting at Sutton Cricket Club it has been decided that if a majority of clubs’ grounds are fit (i.e. more than 50 per cent) on April 20 then the scheduled fixtures will go ahead, and ditto for April 27.

However, if the majority of grounds are unfit then all of the matches will be cancelled and clubs will receive five points each as per an abandoned match.

The option of postponing the first weekend’s fixtures until the third week in September, as happened last year, has been ruled out as fixtures are already scheduled for September 7 and 14, and if that extra weekend option was taken then light could be an issue on September 21, which is the latest date possible for the third Saturday in September.

It was also taken into consideration that clubs will want to get on with their end-of-season ground maintenance before that date, and there is also a potential issue for clubs that share their outfield rounds with football teams.

A definite decision on what happens on April 20 and 27 will be taken by a straw poll of clubs around April 13-14 - the weekend prior to the start of the season.