Purpose

Blythe Cricket Club is committed to providing a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for junior players moving into open-age (senior) cricket. This policy aligns with ECB guidance on Juniors in Open Age Cricket and is designed to:

• Protect the welfare and development of junior players.

• Ensure selection decisions are based on ability, readiness, and safeguarding, not convenience.

• Provide clear guidance for captains, coaches, parents, and players.

 

Principles

• The welfare of the young person is the first priority, ahead of winning matches.

• Selection must be based on ability, attitude, and readiness – not just filling gaps in senior teams.

• No junior should play in an older junior age group or senior environment if it places them at risk physically, emotionally, or socially.

• Captains, coaches, and the Club Safeguarding Officer (CSO) must be consulted prior to a junior first playing in an open age cricket game and if any person raises a concern.

 

Eligibility

• Under 11s and under: Cannot play in open-age cricket (ECB regulation).

• Under 12s: May play in open-age cricket only if they are in a County squad.

• Under 13s and older: Eligible if assessed as ready in terms of skill, physicality, and maturity.

• Under 18s: Still subject to safeguarding protections even when playing in senior teams.

All decisions must be reviewed regularly and communicated to parents.

 

Selection Guidelines

• Junior players must not be selected simply to make up numbers.

• Captains must ensure junior players are given suitable roles (batting order, bowling overs, fielding positions) in line with their development stage.

• No junior player should be exposed to intimidating on-field behaviour or placed in unsafe positions (e.g., close fielding without proper protection).

• The Club Safeguarding Officer must review junior participation in senior cricket on a regular basis and as deemed reasonably necessary.

 

Fast Bowling Guidelines (ECB Directive)

To reduce risk of over-bowling injuries in junior fast bowlers, Blythe CC enforces the ECB’s limits per match and also takes into account the recommendations for the number of overs per week (noting that these apply to a player’s age, not the age group that they are playing in):

​

 

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

Additional rules:

• A bowler must rest for the equivalent number of overs bowled in a spell before bowling again.

• Overs across school, club, county, and other cricket all count towards these totals.

• Coaches, captains and parents are responsible for monitoring workloads.

 

Fielding Restrictions

• No player under 18 may field closer than 7 yards from the bat in front of square.

• Players under 18 must wear a helmet when keeping wicket standing up to the stumps.

• All junior players must wear helmets when batting against hard ball.

 

Equipment

• Players under 18 must wear a helmet when keeping wicket standing up to the stumps.

• All junior players must wear helmets when batting against hard ball.

• Male players under 18 must wear a groin protector (box) when required to wear a helmet (e.g., batting, keeping wicket or fielding close in)

• Helmets must be British Standard compliant and have a faceguard

• No player under 18 may field closer than 7 yards from the bat in front of square.

 

Safeguarding & Duty of Care

• The CSO must be informed whenever a junior is first selected for a senior team.

• Parental consent is required before a junior debuts in adult cricket.

• Captains and senior players must create a positive, inclusive team environment for juniors.

•  Ideally there should be more than one adult present irrespective of the number of juniors in the changing room but it is appreciated that this will not always be possible.  However, one junior must never be left in changing rooms with an adult unsupervised (i.e. there should always be two or more juniors for an adult to be unsupervised).

• Junior cricketers should not shower or change alongside adults.

• Transport must follow the Club’s Transport Policy.

 

Communication

• Captains must give parents advance notice of selection and expected playing role.

• Juniors should be encouraged to give feedback on their experiences in senior cricket.

• Concerns should be raised directly to the Junior Lead, Coach or CSO.

• Captains must inform the umpires of any junior cricketers playing in their team in open age cricket.

 

Review

This policy will be reviewed annually by the Junior Committee, updated in line with ECB guidance and shared with all coaches, captains, and team managers at the start of each season.