Cricket Victoria confirms new pathway for under-age talent

Cricket Victoria’s pathway model for underage players has been finalised, with a Premier Under 18 series a feature. Here are the details.

Victorian pace prospect, bowling here for Ringwood, went through the Youth Premier League program.

An Under 18 Premier Cricket competition is a linchpin of the new player pathway model adopted by Cricket Victoria for the 2021-22 season.

CV and the 18 Premier clubs will run the series for males and females, and for many aspiring young players it will be their entry point to the state’s pinaccle club competition.

With COVID-19 curtailing the Youth Premier League (YPL) this season, CV has reassessed the path for the state’s best under-age talent and made changes.

From next season players will move from Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union and Country Week carnivals at Under 14 and 15 level through to the region-based YPL for Under 16s.

The Premier Under 18s is the final step in what officials say is a more streamlined approach easily understood by players and their parents.

Under 16 YPL action last season between Barwon Rockets and Noerthern Rivers.

The Under 18 competition will give Premier clubs a “direct connection’’ to the pathway and is seen as a “finishing school’’ for players ahead of them tackling senior cricket.

It will also present more opportunities to players already at Premier clubs and developing their cricket in the Third and Fourth XIs.

“It will give them the chance to play on the main ovals and bat and bowl in key moments of the game,’’ Cricket Victoria high performance manager Dean Russ said.

The clubs will appoint coaches and other support staff.

Read the pathway model below

Russ said the format would be finalised but there could be a block of matches set down in the January holidays to help country players who faced long drives for matches.

The Under 18 and Under 16 series (Under 15 for girls, in line with the age group for the Cricket Australia championships) will also help Cricket Victoria to identify prospects for the male and female emerging player squads.

Cricket Victoria’s high performance team will continue to oversee the Under 16 YPL. “It is important that all players across Victoria, regardless of postcode, get the same opportunities to showcase their talent,’’ Russ said in reference to the statewide competition.

Where regions such as the South East Bayside Breakers and Southern Pioneers had been playing in an Under 14 YPL, from next season players will be steered towards the VMCU carnivals, the Russell Allen Shield for boys and the Julie Savage Shield for girls.

Players in country regions can turn out in Country Week tournaments arranged by local associations.

The Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association’s Under 15 John Craig Shield is another element of the pathway.

Russ said it made sense to involve the community competitions and clubs and the VSDCA in the pathway.

“They’re bona fide competitions – they’ve always helped young players on their journeys – and we want to work in with them and promote what they’re doing,’’ he said.

“Our motto for this season has been to ‘build the base’ and really connect in with associations. There have been a lot of positives. Many country associations and regions have started female representative opportunities, where that hadn’t happened previously.

“So we want to build the foundation and make sure it’s really solid to springboard the model.’’

Russ said CV was running an online seminar for representative coaches and wanted to create a “community of coaches’’.

“Coaches and great coaching experiences create lifelong cricketers,’’ he said.

Russ the Under 14 approach gave young players representative opportunities without the pressure of being involved in a statewide program at a young age.

This season the Premier clubs are staging an Under 16 boys carnival starting Sunday week, as well as an Under 18 series for females.

CV is also running tournaments for Under 17 male and Under 16 female players in regional Victoria in January.