SUssex MEN'S PLAYER ELIGIBLITY RULES

All Teams should remain conscious throughout their time in The Slam that the below rules are fundamental to the success of The Slam, and as such, a significant level of the health of the recreational game in the county. Therefore willful action against these rules will be viewed in an appropriately dim light and may result ultimately in expulsion from The Slam.

• SX-MPE.1 - Players must be regular playing members of the club to which the participating team is affiliated, who will be expected to honour the ethos and responsibilities of being a member of their club and this competition. The only exception to this is where a player plays more cricket for another club, but that club is not participating in The Slam. Note that rules SX-MPE.4 and SX-MPE.5 are relevant to ANY club that a player plays for on a weekend, not just the club that they represent in The Slam. ​​ ​    

• SX-MPE.2a - No player shall represent more than ONE team in ANY version (Cup, Plate or Trophy) of The Slam in any single year. ​

• SX-MPE.2b - An exception to SX-MPE.2a is where a club enters a team into more than one of the Men's Cup, Men's Plate and Men's Trophy. In such an instance a player IS able to play for more than one team for that club ONLY in any single year so long as they meet the eligibility criteria for the version they are playing in at the given time as per rules SX-MPE.4 and SX-MPE.5.​ ​​

 

• SX-MPE.2c - The only other exception to SX-MPE.2a is where a player has formally transferred from one to club to another via the official process employed by the weekend league(s) in which that club participates. Upon submitting written evidence of that transfer, and receiving written confirmation of acceptance from The Slam,  that player will be permitted to  participate for the remainder of The Slam season for their new club's team(s) ONLY, they are not permitted to continue playing for the team(s) entered by their old club regardless of whether they participate in a different level of competition or not. The ongoing eligibility of the player will be judged based on their performance in that season AS A WHOLE and not just whilst playing for their new club. The deadline for transfers will be in line with those of the associated weekend league(s).

• SX-MPE.3 - It is not acceptable for any participating team to play players who are remunerated in any way to play cricket, irrespective of whether it is the competing team or another club who provides the remuneration to the player.​ For the avoidance of doubt, this includes (but is not limited to) the payment of match fees and/or travel costs; the provision of board and/or lodgings; or the provision of employment, or the ability to be employed. ​ ​​​

• SX-MPE.4a - Any player who has participated the Sussex Cricket League Premier Division or Division Two in the current season (or equivalent level in another county) shall NOT be eligible to participate in any Slam competition.

​

• SX-MPE.4b - Teams may submit to the Competition Manager a request for players to be exempt from rule SX-MPE.4a whereby a player may have only played a very limited number of matches at this level of competition that would normally exclude them from participating. This should be submitted via the designated online form ONLY and any exemption is only confirmed once it has been confirmed by email or text to the requesting team.

 

• ​SX-MPE.4c - Any player that is not excluded from participating under rule SX-MPE.3 or SX-MPE.4a may participate in The Men's Cup.

 

• SX-MPE.4d - Any player who has participated in the following Sussex Cricket League divisions in the current season (or equivalent level in another county) shall NOT be eligible to participate in The Men's Plate:​

​Premier Division
Division Two
Division Three East or West
Division Four East or West
Division Five East, Central or West

• ​SX-MPE.4e - Any player who has participated in the following Sussex Cricket League divisions in the current season (or equivalent level in another county) shall NOT be eligible to participate in The Men's Trophy:​

​Premier Division
Division Two
Division Three East or West
Division Four East or West
Division Five East, Central or West
Division Six East, Central or West
Division Seven East, Central or West
Division Eight East, Central or West

• ​​​​​SY-MPE.4f - For the FIRST TWO FIXTURE WINDOWS ONLY OF THE CURRENT SEASON the player's record from the previous season shall be utilised to assess whether a player is eligible to participate in any of the Men's Cup, Men's Plate or Men's Trophy, unless the XI of the club in question was either promoted or relegated following the previous season, then the assessment will be made upon the division that XI is competing in for the current season. AFTER the first two fixture windows of the current season are complete the player's record for the current season alone shall be used to assess eligibility.   ​

​

• SY-MPE.4g - Teams may submit to the Competition Manager a request for players to be exempt from rules SX-MPE.4d and/or SX.MPE.4e whereby a player may have only played a very limited number of matches at those levels of competition that would normally exclude them from participating in The Men's Plate and/or The Men's Trophy. This should be submitted via the designated online form ONLY and any exemption is only confirmed once it has been confirmed by email or text to the requesting team.

• SX-MPE.5a - In The Men's Cup any player who has played for their (or any) club in either Division Three (East or West) of the Sussex Cricket League (or equivalent) will not be permitted to bat higher than number 6 in the batting order, nor will they be permitted to bowl any earlier than the 13th over of an innings. In a shortened match the batting restriction remains but the bowling restriction should be altered by the same ratio that the match is reduced by. ​

​​ 

• SX-MPE.5b - In The Men's Cup any player who has played for their (or any) club in either Division Four (East or West) of the Sussex Cricket League (or equivalent) will not be permitted to bat higher than number 4 in the batting order, nor will they be permitted to bowl any earlier than the 9th over of an innings. In a shortened match the batting restriction remains but the bowling restriction should be altered by the same ratio that the match is reduced by.

​

• SX-MPE.5c - In The Men's Plate ONLY any player who has played for their (or any) club in any Division Six (East, Central or West) of the Sussex Cricket League (or equivalent) will not be permitted to bat higher than number 4 in the batting order, nor will they be permitted to bowl any earlier than the 9th over of an innings. In a shortened match the batting restriction remains but the bowling restriction should be altered by the same ratio that the match is reduced by.

​

• SX-MPE.5d - In The Men's Trophy ONLY any player who has played for their (or any) club in any Division Nine (East, Central or West) or Division Ten (East, Central or West) of the Sussex Cricket League (or equivalent) will not be permitted to bat higher than number 4 in the batting order, nor will they be permitted to bowl any earlier than the 9th over of an innings. In a shortened match the batting restriction remains but the bowling restriction should be altered by the same ratio that the match is reduced by.

​

• SX-MPE.5e - For the FIRST TWO FIXTURE WINDOWS ONLY OF THE CURRENT SEASON the player's record from the previous season shall be utilised to assess whether a player's participation is restricted in any of the Men's Cup, Men's Plate or Men's Trophy unless the XI of the club in question was either promoted or relegated following the previous season then the assessment will be made upon the division that XI is competing in for the current season. AFTER the first two fixture windows of the current season are complete the player's record for current season alone shall be used to assess any restriction.   ​

    ​

• SX-MPE.5f - Teams may submit to the Competition Manager a request for players to be exempt from part of rules SX-MPE.5a, SX-MPE.5b, SX-MPE.5c or SX-MPE.5d whereby the player may be a bowler of a high standard, but their batting would not be considered as such (or vice versa). This should be submitted via the designated online form ONLY and any exemption is only confirmed once it is has been confirmed by email or text to the requesting team. ​

​

• SX-MPE.5g - For the avoidance of doubt, any player not covered by any of the rulings above shall NOT be restricted when participating in any of the Men's Cup, Men's Plate or Men's Trophy.

 

• SX-MPE.5h - ANY player under the age of 18 on 6TH MAY 2024 will NOT be subject to rulings SX-MPE.5a, SX-MPE.5b, SX-MPE.5c or SX-MPE.5d and as such no Player Exemption request is required. For the avoidance of doubt, this DOES NOT mean they are also exempt from any other rulings, particularly those under SX.MPE.4.

• SX-MPE.6 - Any team may not utilise any more than FOUR granted INDIVIDUAL batting or bowling exemptions in any single match in the Men's Cup competition (this rule does NOT apply to the Men's Plate or Men's Trophy competitions). For the avoidance of doubt a team may play more than four players who have been granted exemptions, but may NOT utilise any more than four INDIVIDUAL batting or bowling exemptions that allow a player to bat or bowl earlier than SX-MPE.4 or SX-MPE.5 would normally allow.. Note that an exemption is for one player's batting or bowling NOT both, any player who has been granted BOTH a batting and bowling exemption is deemed to not be sufficiently of the level the restriction rules are aimed at and as such they do not count towards the number of exemptions utilised. For the avoidance of doubt, an exemption from SX-MPE.4a is NOT to be counted as one of the utilised exemptions in any match as it is assumed that individual has been freed up to play at their correct level and the team should not be penalised for that. However, any subsequent batting or bowling exemptions for that individual WILL be regarded as one of the permitted exemptions.

• SX-MPE.7 - Teams should declare to their opponents ALL players with valid exemptions prior to the toss being conducted of any match. For the avoidance of doubt this should include any players exempt due to being under 18 on 13th May 2024 as per SX-MPE.5h.

• SX-MPE.8 - Any dispute regarding players who have played for a team in this competition is to be referred, in writing, to the Competition Manager only by the nominated prime contact for that team.​