Dear All
Happy new year to you. I am starting to make plans for cricket competitions this summer so I attach an introductory entry form for the planned secondary competitions for 2023. I say planned because I am very happy to respond to the interests of schools in order to encourage them to participate. We are looking at increasing participation alongside the County Board and will develop events and competitions to facilitate this so please contact me if what you are looking for is not featured on the form. This includes the option of softball cricket competitions for example.
The only change from last year is that I have not included an under 15 League on the form as only a small proportion of the games in this were played last year. Instead there is a “three tier” t20 cup format. The Under 15 County Cup is for the eight strongest schools leading to a national competition later in the season (won by Abingdon School last Summer so congratulations to them as our first ever national champions) .There will also be an under 15 County Vase and a County Plate and this will guarantee all state schools that enter at least two games in one or more of these knock out competitions. If you wish to enter an under 15 league please advise me and I am still happy to set this up but I think the proposed format more accurately matches the availability of Y10 players for schools cricket.
I appreciate that it may be much too early for some schools to know what cricket they will be doing and the deadline for returns in mid February reflects that. I will be back in touch after half term with schools who have not responded to see where they are with this. Affiliation (£20) is required to enter the competitions and this should be paid by Bacs or cheque. A generic affiliation form is attached for this purpose but I can send a personalised one if required.
The viability and format of leagues will be assessed after consultation based on the number of entries. The under 12 pairs and under 13 t20 leagues still remain popular. Groups will be regionalised with semi finals and final in July. Schools who can commit to three or four games in a particular age group are welcome to enter the leagues. Schools who cannot commit to this minimum please do not enter league but enter the knock out competition instead. If there are not enough entries for the leagues I will consider the option of a vase competition in the lower age groups.
There are a number of girls only competitions for schools this summer and these are run by OCB and you will be contacted by them direct about these. Girls are very welcome to play in school matches within their own age group.
Please return the competition entry form and affiliation by February 15th . Do please contact me if you wish to clarify or discuss any of this.
Peter Tubb