JUNIOR CRICKET
AT THE NORTHERN

Cricket is alive and well at The Northern, no more so than in our thriving junior section.

Starting with primary aged children at our hugely popular Friday Night Smash and Dynamos cricket programmes, boys and girls can start a cricket journey that can take them through soft ball then hard ball age group cricket, up to Under 18 and U19 age groups, as well as progression into our senior cricket section for those who don’t want it to end!

Lifetime friendships and a love of the game are made here at The Northern, and cricketers of all abilities can maximise their potential through our planned development programme that sees junior cricketers progress from fun and games in a safe and friendly environment, then take on the challenges of hard ball cricket from Under 11 onwards.

It generally begins with our Friday Night Smash, with youngsters learning the basics of throwing and catching, batting and bowling in a fun and safe environment – but book early, we have been hugely oversubscribed in recent times. This year we are even running a Winter Smash for those who can’t wait for the summer!

As players progress, we run teams at U9, U11, U13, U15 and U18, with boys and girls welcome.

Most of our coaches are volunteers, but we put them through the ECB coaching courses, with most qualified at Level 1 or Level 2. Higher up, we boast a couple of Level 3 qualified coaches who oversee our approach.

Northern Cricket Developing Model

Footage from our 2019 season review..

Our junior sides have been spectacularly successful in recent times, winning league titles at U11 and U13 level as well as the Merseyside cup competition. In 2021 our U13 side made it to the semi-final of the Lancashire Cup as well as winning the Merseyside league and cup. Age group focused training takes place at the Northern in the summer months, with winter nets taking place between January and April.

Several of our players have gone on to representative cricket, representing Merseyside at inter-league level, and some for Lancashire age groups. The majority of our players at U15 and U13 level also played senior-level cricket in 2021, with the club able to field 5 sides on Saturdays, as well as a Development XI on Sundays enabling more young players to get a taste of senior cricket.

A number of our junior girls also represent the club in the women’s competitions, with the Northern Club playing an integral role in the exciting emergence of women’s cricket across Lancashire and beyond. Several of our female cricketers are now trained coaches and taking on leadership roles to support younger cricketers, and developing the hardball game alongside the softball – and some are now turning out regularly with the men at the weekends for our senior teams!

As well as the coaching side of the game, safety is a priority, and not only in these COVID-dominated times. Our trained coaches must all pass a recognised first aid course, and are all trained in safeguarding and DBS checked, overseen by lead officers in Safeguarding.

The main thing to remember though is that cricket is great fun!

Contact juniorcricket@northernclub.uk to find out more.

Footage from our juniors who where lucky enough to be flag bearers at the 2019 ICC World Cup fixture between Australia & South Africa…and we all know what happened at the end of that tournament! 

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