Result
	Preliminary Round - to be played on or before Sunday 18 May 2008
A	Eppleton	v.	Darlington RA
B	South Shields	v.	Benwell Hill	South Shields won by 2 runs
C	Peterlee	v.	Consett
D	Lintz	v.	Seaham Harbour
	1st Round - to be played on or before Sunday 8 June 2008
1	Murton	v.	South Shields
2	Hylton	v.	Winners of A
3	Winners of D	v.	Ryhope
4	Kimblesworth	v.	Whitburn
5	Ushaw Moor	v.	Winners of C
6	Annfield Plain	v.	Philadelphia
7	Newcastle	v.	Burnhopfield
8	Bill Quay	v.	Boldon
9	Crook	v.	Hetton Lyons
10	Stockton	v.	South Hetton
11	Burnmoor	v.	Sunderland
12	Boldon CA	v.	Willington
13	Seaham Park	v.	Tudhoe
14	Dawdon	v.	South Northumberland
15	Marsden	v.	Tynemouth
16	Lanchester	v.	Horden
	2nd Round - to be played on or before Sunday 29 June 2008
A	Winners of 13	v.	Winners of 1
B	Winners of 11	v.	Winners of 2
C	Winners of 6	v.	Winners of 7
D	Winners of 10	v.	Winners of 16
E	Winners of 8	v.	Winners of 9
F	Winners of 4	v.	Winners of 12
G	Winners of 5	v.	Winners of 15
16	Winners of 13	v.	Winners of 12
17	Winners of 15	v.	Winners of 14
	Quarter Finals - to be played on or before Sunday 20 July 2008
1	Winners of F	v.	Winners of A
2	Winners of E	v.	Winners of B
3	Winners of D	v.	Winners of C
4	Winners of H	v.	Winners of G
	Semi Finals - to be played on or before Sunday 10 August 2008
	Winners of 4	v.	Winners of 3
	Winners of 1	v.	Winners of 2
	Final - to be played at Dawdon Cricket Club on Sunday 7 September 2008
		v.

 

COMPETITION RULES

1. Players taking part must be bona fide members of the Club for which they play and must be recognized Second Team Players. In the first round, any player who has played more than two league games for his Club's First Team is ineligible. In all subsequent games a player who has played more Second Team league cricket than First Team league cricket will be eligible to play. These qualifying games, of course, are in the current season. Any player not qualified to play for England shall not be eligible to play.

2. A player can only play for one Club in any season in the Competition.

3. All evening games shall commence not later than 6.00pm. If one side is not ready to commence at that time, the non defaulting side shall have the choice of innings. Times for Sunday games shall be by mutual arrangement.

4. Each innings shall consist of 24 overs, except on a Sunday when a maximum of 36 overs may be played, unless a side is dismissed in less. No bowler permitted to bowl more than 1/4 of the overs. In the event of a tie (with both scores level) the winner shall be the team that has lost the least number of wickets and if both sides are still level then a replay will take place on the ground of the visitors for the first tie. In the event of a result being unobtainable because of inclement weather, the tie shall be played on the ground of the Home Team for the first tie. The full 24 overs must be played unless both Captains mutually agree to play less. The number of overs arranged by the Captains must be notified to the Umpires before play starts.

5. There must be an admission charge for each game, but failing to do this, the Home side must arrange for a collection to be taken towards expenses. The Home Club will pay the Umpires and the Visitors will be responsible for their own traveling expenses. Each Club will provide a Grade A quartered ball to the satisfaction of the opposing Captain.

6. For the rounds prior to the semi finals, the Clubs shall equally divide the gate or collection.
In the semi finals, 10% of the gross gate or collection shall be deducted and handed to the Competition Treasurer, while the remainder of the income will be equally divided between the Two Clubs. In the final, all match receipts will go to the Competition, whose Officers will account for the necessary payments to Umpires.

7. The entrance fee for each Club is £7.00 which is payable to The James Bell Cup Committee and sent to Ian Linsley, 55 Castlefields, Burnmoor. DH4 6HJ the Competition Treasurer before playing a match. If this rule is not honoured the defaulting Club(s) will be struck out of the Competition.

8. The Secretary, David Armstrong, will appoint all Umpires once he has been advised of the date of each game. Only those Umpires who hold a valid CRB certificate will be appointed. Umpires will receive a fee of £9.00 for an evening game and £14.00 for a Sunday game plus 25p per mile expenses.

9. Home Clubs shall inform the Secretary of the result of each tie within two days of it being played.

10. Fielding Restrictions. At the moment of delivery a minimum of four fieldsmen (plus the bowler and wicket-keeper) must be within an area bounded by two semi-circles (each with a radius of 30 yards/27.43m) centred on each middle stump and joined by a parallel line on each side of the pitch. In the event of an infringement the square-leg umpire shall call and signal 'no ball'. The fielding circle should be marked by painted white dots
at 5 yard/4.57m intervals, with each 'dot' covered by a plastic (not metal) disc measuring 7 inches/17.78cm in diameter.

11. Any protest must be sent to the Secretary within 48 hours of the playing of the tie giving rise to protest (excluding Sunday in the period) and a fee of £10.00 must accompany the protest, which shall include the names of any player protested against and a copy must be sent to the opposing Clubs Secretary. Relevant action may be taken by any Competition Official (including Management Committee Officials) or any infringement that comes to their notice.

12. If injury, or any other factor, should result in a bowler being unable to complete an over, the remaining balls shall be bowled by another bowler. The part of the over bowled by each bowler shall be counted as a full over so far as his limit is concerned but for no other purpose. The replacement bowler should not be the one that bowled the previous over.

13. All matches are to be played under ECB rulings.

Law 25.1-Wide Ball-Judging a wide
Umpires are instructed to apply a very strict and consistent interpretation in regard to this Law in order to prevent negative bowling wide of the wicket or over the batsman's head.

The following criteria should be adopted as a guide to Umpires:

(a) If the ball passes either side of the wicket sufficiently wide to make it virtually impossible for the striker to play a normal cricket stroke both from where he is standing and from where he should normally be standing at the crease, the Umpire should call and signal 'WIDE'.
(b) If the ball passes over head height of the striker upright at the crease the Umpire should call and signal 'WIDE'.

Note; The above provisions do not apply if the striker makes contact with the ball, if it passes below head height between the striker and the wicket.

Law 42.9
The bowling of high, fast full pitches is unfair.
A fast, high full pitched ball shall be defined as a ball that passes or would have passed on the full above waist height of a batsman standing upright at the crease. Should a bowler bowl a fast high full pitched ball, the Umpire at the bowlers end shall call and signal 'NO BALL' and adopt the procedure of caution, final warning, action against the bowler and reporting as set out in Law 42.8.