THE Kent Cricket League will go into their 2006 campaign with a new structure.

Some 57 of the 60 teams were represented at the annual meeting held at Hartley Cricket Club and voted through a new six-division structure with 10 clubs in each division.

The second team structure will mirror that of the first teams and honouring second string fixtures will now be made a condition of joining the league.

It is hoped the new format will lead to more attacking cricket with a two-up, two down promotion and relegation structure, but first and second teams will operate and be treated as separate entities.

Neil Jones and Malcolm Sanderson were thanked for their work on the management committee having both stood down, and they were replaced by Peter Aylott and Paul Jones.

The league’s voluntary code of conduct went through unanimously and, in his report to the meeting, league chairman Howard Smith, said he hoped increased competition for promotion places would not detract from good discipline.

He said: "Our disciplinary record deteriorated in 2005 and I urge you to improve in 2006.

"We had a record of which we were justly proud and which many leagues envied, so let us make sure we return to our previous good behaviour and remember the spirit of cricket."

Mr Smith and the remainder of the league’s officers were re-elected and honorary treasurer Barry Styles was presented with a framed print of St Lawrence and a set of bails made from the ground’s iconic lime tree to mark 25 years of stewardship.