JUNIOR CRICKET IN CUMBRIA
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"FROM THE PLAYGROUND TO THE TEST
ARENA"
Young cricketers of all abilities in Cumbria are
catered for by a structure that is designed to
develop their skills
from a very early
age.
The "Chance to
Shine" scheme, designed to promote cricket
in state schools by
sending in club coaches to
teach the game, operates in 1,200 state
schools across the UK, including many in
Cumbria. The Cricket
Foundation, which runs
the scheme, aims to extend it to 5,200
primary
and 1,500 secondary schools by 2015.
Many youngsters
first experience of Cricket will feature
Kwik Cricket which is a simple game for all boys
and girls from five years of age upwards.
It is currently played in 8,000 primary schools and
over 4,500 of the 6,000 ECB affiliated clubs.
It’s designed to
provide children with an
introduction to cricket and can be played
either indoors or outdoors. |
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ASDA Kwik Cricket 2008 saw a surge in
participation amongst primary school
pupils, with 23 per cent
more teams
taking part than last year and a phenonemonal rise
in girls taking part, up 97 per cent on
2007 with over 25,000
girls aged 7 to 11
registered to take
part. | |
JUNIOR CRICKET AT CLUB LEVEL
Many
Cricket clubs across Cumbria run Junior
Sections with teams in one
of the three Junior
Cricket Leagues that operate across Cumbria -
The Barrow & District Junior League*, The
Westmorland Junior League and the Cumbria
Junior Cricket League
* If contacts are
required for clubs in
the Barrow & District League please
contact the webmaster
Teams compete at several
age groups - typically Under 11, Under 13 and
Under 15 (Westmorland
League = Under 16). It
is not uncommon for players as young as
School
year 4 to be playing in Under 11 teams, so youngsters that
join their local clubs can often enjoy 7 or 8
years of competitive
Junior League
Cricket.
A County Cup is contested at Under 13
and Under 15 level with overall Cumbrian
winners going on to
represent our County in a
National
competition.
COUNTY
& DISTRICT
SQUADS
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The Cumberland Schools Cricket Association was
formed in November 1951 before changing
to the Cumbria
Schools Cricket
Association (C.S.C.A.) in
1974. It administers schoolboy
cricket throughout
Cumbria, from
arranging inter-school competitions, to running
the county age group sides from under 10
to under 15.
The C.S.C.A. is also
a registered charity. A copy of the
C.S.C.A. Newsletter, providing further
information can be
downloaded here. |
The C.S.C.A is
dedicated to finding the best players
available to represent the age
group
squads. This can only be done by recommendation.
Throughout Cumbria there are
also 'District'
groups
run by dedicated and qualified cricket coaches. If
these coaches see any players with potential
they will inform the
County team managers who
will invite the player for trial. If
successful the player will then attend winter
nets and possibly be
selected to represent the
county during the
summer.
District
Squads are selected at
Under 12 and
Under 14 age groups. Teams from neighbouring districts
will play each other initially. Thereafter
representative teams from
the North and South
of the County (made up of players from the
Districts) will play each other.
The
season culminates with a
'County B'
Team (players from North/South) taking on the County
Team. This provides a further opportunity for
promising and
improving youngsters to catch
the eye of the County Team
Managers.
County
Squads are in place at
Under 10, 11,
12, 13, 14 and 15 with County Teams playing against
other Counties and taking part in
tours/festivals during the
season.
Details of
District and County
matches taking place
during 2009 will be added to this site, and to
the main Cumbria
Cricket Board Site, as they become
available.
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