Junior faqs
How old do I have to be to play?
No, its not a trick question. The obvious answer is that you can be any age to play cricket. But here we are trying to answer the question relating to the age group of a particular kind of junior cricket, e.g. Under 12s, or Under 14s etc.
Before we answer this question, the answer will be a general guide. There can always be exceptions. For example, a 9 year old could play Under 16s...perhaps if his name is Don Bradman!!!
And a 12 year old could play Mini Bash (Under 10s) if that is the appropriate grade for that player's ability (e.g. they are just starting to play). We may have to apply for a permit in this instance.
But the answer, in general, is as follows:
The key is a players age as at the 1st of September in the year in which a Season starts. For example, to play Under 12s in the 2020/2021 Season the criteria relates to a player's age as at 1st September 2020.
Competition Males Females
Mini Bash 9 years or under 11 years or under
Under 12s 11 years or under 13 years or under
Under 14s 13 years or under 15 years or under
Under 16s 15 years or under 17 years or under
Girls Under 12s 11 years or under
Girls Under 15s 14 yeare or under
Junior Blasters? Master Blasters? Mini Bash?
This is a case of answering your question with a series of questions. But it's a case of how much cricket is your child/children ready for? It's a question of availability, ability, maturity, concentration and sometimes how many children you have.
Availability? When is your child available to train and/or play?
At Warranwood, Junior Blasters is run on Friday evenings and/or Sunday mornings Master Blasters is run on Thursday evenings
Mini Bash players train on Monday afternoons and play on Friday evenings
Ability? Can your child bowl a ball approx. 14 metres accurately?
If they can, they are pretty much ready for Mini Bash
If they throw the ball, or the ball often lands off the pitch, or rolls along the pitch, then you should
consider Junior Blasters or Master Blasters?
Maturity? Concentration?
The 3 forms of cricket involve playing for a different length of time.
Junior Blasters sessions are one hour and made up of 3-4 activities and/or games. And each child is kept involved for most of the time
Master Blasters and Mini Bash are both actual games of cricket. A Master Blasters session is approx. 90 minutes, whilst a Mini Bash game is over 2 hours. Your child will need to concentrate for a longer period of time, including periods when they are not actively involved in the game, e.g. when our team is batting, but its another player's turn.
How many children do you have?
Why does this make a difference? Well firstly, its usually the parents who are the taxi. If you have more than one child playing and they play different forms of cricket, you may find it difficult to get them to, or pick them up from games. You may even have another child participating in another sport or activity they may create similar time pressures.
Sometimes when you have 2 children of similar age groups it is tempting to put them into the same activity or team. But this isn't always the best thing for them. You may be holding one child back in a lower grade of cricket and the result is that they become bored. Or you may be pushing one child to quickly and they are unable to keep up.
And it isn't unknown for the younger child to over-shadow their older sibling? Will the older child cope if their younger sibling shows them up?
The one thing we can say is that we will try to be flexible and to assist you in any way to chose the best
level of cricket for your children. This might involve some "come and try" experience, or finding a
flexible way for you to train (when the 'normal' night doesn't suit you).
When do we play? When do we train?
Training dates will be finalised as we get closer to the Season. It is normally based on the availability of Coaches. The table below shows the playing and training days for last Season (2019/20) as a guide.
Competition Training Day/Time Playing Day/Time
Mini Bash Monday 4.30pm to 6pm Friday 4.45pm to 7.45pm
Under 12s Wednesday 4.30pm to 6pm Friday 4.45pm to 8.30pm
Under 14s Thursday 4.30pm to 6pm Saturday 7.45am to 11.30am (See Note 1) (See Note 3)
Under 16s Thursday 4.30pm to 6pm Saturday 7.45am to 11.30am (See Note 1)
Girls Under 12s Saturday 8am to 9am Sunday 8.30am to 11.30am (See Note 2)
Girls Under 15s Saturday 8am to 9am Sunday 8.30am to 11.30am (See Note 2)
Note 1. Under 14 and Under 16 players will often train with the Senior squad and may therefore train till later on Thursdays and/or may also attend Senior training on Tuesday
Note 2. The Girls who also play with the "boys" cricket teams may also train with those teams
Note 3. We are also looking to field an Under 14 team that plays on Friday nights (4.45pm to 8.30pm)
General note. The playing times include an approx. 30 minute warm-up period prior to the game