Notice to Norfolk County Squad Members
The NCSMBA Management Committee is presently discussing Norfolk’s entry into the Inter-County Championships for the 2021/22 season playing to a format published by the ESMBA Management Committee. That format is printed below. County Team Manager Simon Willies has asked that all Norfolk Squad members for the 2019/20 season (which can still be found on the COUNTY TEAM page on the Norfolk CSMBA website) contact him with the following information. Are you willing to play this season? Simon can be contacted on either 01366 328824 or 07812577537 and awaits your call.
ICC Format 2021/22
Due to the fluid nature of the Coronavirus situation that is affecting the Country, the ESMBA Management
Committee have looked closely at events for the coming year. We have had little information come
through from the Government and Sport England at the moment regarding 21st June 2021 and onwards,
but what we have had suggests that we will still have to work within some kind of rules and regulations
regarding venues, numbers, etc. It was decided for this coming season, to ensure a greater chance of
completing the competition, the ICC would need to be revised to a new format.
Not only does this format potentially require fewer playing members it also means that games are played
home and away on the same day with half the team playing at home and half playing away. This reduces
the numbers within a venue but also reduces the playing days, enabling greater flexibility for counties to
arrange their National competitions which due to number limits might need more dates. It also means
that a single match will be played on 2 mats, a double header of Premier and A Team will only require 4
mats thus giving ample social distance.
As per the previous zoom minutes Counties that had entered the 2020/21 ICC season will need to contact
the ESMBA Treasurer for a refund of fees, and for those entering the 2021/22 season there will be no ICC
fee.
The following is a brief outline of the new format.
Teams will consist of 16 players (with 4 optional subs.) 8+2 Home and 8+2 Away.
Half the team play at home and half the team away on the same day.
The 8 players are given a number 1 to 8 and this determines which discipline/mat they compete in
and cannot be changed although they can be substituted. For example - player 1 plays Singles and
Fours, whereas player 3 competes in triples, pairs, and fours.
Each player will compete in a minimum of 2 sessions with the majority playing 3 sessions out of the
4, depending on their player number.
Games up to and including the Semi Finals will be played on a home and away basis.