PETER Westwell will step down as chairman of the Lancashire League at February's annual meeting after 11 years in the job, writes PETER WHITE.

He stressed that his decision was a difficult one to make but had been done for the right reasons.

"I think all chairmen come to their sell-by date and it's time for a fresh pair of hands to take over," he said.

"It's time for a change. I have been working on cricket committees since I started with Accrington in 1955 but I will still be involved in some capacity with youth development.

"I told the clubs last night and I have been thinking about this for the past 12 months. It was not an easy decision to take but it is not connected with anything else."

Meanwhile, Lancashire League clubs are set to adopt a new limited overs format for next summer.

As we revealed some time ago, they will dispense with last season's experiment of reverting to drawn games as the majority of clubs believe spectators want to see overs cricket.

Any rule changes will have to be formally approved at the annual meeting in February but details have already been agreed by the clubs after lengthy discussions.

Games are set to be played on a 50 overs per side basis, fielding cricles will be used to encourage attacking play, with four men plus bowler and wicketkeeper in the circle.

A minimum of 30 overs will have to be received by the side batting second in a rain-affected game and there will be provision for three senior fixture programmes to be replayed on pre-arranged dates when five or more matches are called off with no play.

Winning sides will receive 10 points and any team bowling out the opposition will collect two bonus points.

But there will also be a points incentive for the losing side.

If the losers bat second they are set to receive bonus points for the percentage of the runs target they achieve, such as one point for reaching 75 per cent of their target, up to five points for getting 95 per cent.

When the losers bowl second they would receive bonus points for taking wickets, ie one point for five and five for nine.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.