THE Airedale & Wharfedale Senior Cricket League have decided to delay the start of their new season by a week due to the bad weather conditions in the area over the last couple of months.

The League management committee had been monitoring the situation and were already consulting with clubs and groundsmen for their input before the 40mm of rain that fell last weekend.

That downpour added to the already saturated grounds and left the league with little choice but to postpone. The first weekend of fixtures will now take place on the weekend of April 21-22.

The fixtures originally scheduled for Saturday, April 14 will now be played on Saturday, September 15, while the third XI program scheduled for Sunday, April 15 will be played on Sunday, September 9.

The league claimed that a lack of co-operation from Tour de Yorkshire organisers about the planned route of the elite cycle event on May 5-6 left them with no choice but to originally schedule the start of the season as early as April 14-15.

In terms of an update on the format of this year's league, the third XI play-off will now be a one-match final by the two Conference champions and it will be staged at the ground of the team with the most points.

However, this will be reviewed by the management committee at its next meeting on Wednesday, April 11.