The Eastern Counties is little more than a month away and this week the Eastern Counties Cricket Association made some very bold changes in an effort to modernise their competition.

They’ve changed the allocation of overs and they’ve changed the rules on player eligibility, and quite frankly I’m at a loss for words.

Whenever a cricketing body implements rule changes there will inevitably be some people that agree, and some that disagree with the policies.

I’ve had to choose my words very carefully on this subject.

Cleveland County had been chasing this trophy for some 33 years. In recent years I have learnt that on several occasion we [Cleveland] have made recommendations for the overs to be changed, but all to no avail.

The bigger clubs, as long as they had the trophy, were happy because they knew that with the overs restrictions it would be tougher for a club such as Cleveland, or Flatts, to wrestle the trophy away from their grasp.

In my first stint of coaching at Cleveland, we came close to victory as we bowled St David’s out for a mere 150-odd at Lord’s, but we couldn’t get the runs. That just showed how tough it was for a team like Cleveland to win, even when we had an abundance of overs to bat and make the runs.

That is why we fought to have the rules changed to give us some hope of causing an upset, but when it came to voting Cleveland was just a small fish in a big pond. Now that we have the trophy, clubs all of a sudden have had a change of heart, that’s amazing.

Now, in my second spell of coaching Cleveland, the team and I sat for hours and came up with a game plan to beat St David’s. The players went out there and executed the plan to perfection. Winning the Eastern Counties was about hard work, commitment, focus and attention to detail. It didn’t have anything to do with overs changing to give another team a better chance.

Secondly, we have players being eligible after playing only one year.

I agree that this is good for the Eastern Counties, as it will attract players to these clubs. Eastern Counties is the next biggest cricketing attraction after Cup Match. There are several players who will now view joining an Eastern Counties team as a viable option, as they only have to wait one year before playing in the competition.

However, there is one part of the new ruling that I totally disagree with, and for the life of me cannot understand the reasoning behind the change.

If a player becomes eligible from playing with a club for a year then decides after three or four years he wants a change of scenery, and goes to play for another club, he is no longer eligible to play for that club in the Eastern Counties. That’s shocking.

This means you can play for a club in the Eastern Counties for, say five years, and because you leave, you lose your eligibility for that club. That’s absurd.

I understand, and can appreciate the effort of, trying to keep the players at these clubs, but once you have played you should automatically be eligible for life. If they want to make a ruling, then at least put in a stipulation saying that once you have played a minimum of three years than you will be eligible forever.

I look at Kevin Hurdle as an example. He played with Flatts for a few years, but then left and is now ineligible. This just shouldn’t happen. Once you are deemed eligible to play and you play county you should simply be eligible for life.

I know there will be many out there that disagree, but to me that makes absolutely no sense. You may not be able to keep the best players at the eastern clubs, but at least you can keep them playing in the Eastern Counties. A little of something is better than nothing at all.

Despite all that, I applaud the Eastern Counties for making these changes, hopefully it will make for more exciting cricket, and the crowds will be entertained yet again.