Joining the juniors | Cricket in Witney

JUNIORS

Witney Mills CC is a an ECB Clubmark club. Clubmark is an accreditation scheme that shows that a club is sustainable, well run and provides the right environment for its members. The club provides junior cricket for children from the age of five to 19.

Membership is £50 per child, £20 for a second child and free for further children. Parents and carers of children become social members when their child joins, allowing them to use our newly refurbished pavilion.

Coaching runs for most age groups from late April until the schools break up for the summer. When the demand is there from the kids (almost always) coaching can go on through the summer holidays, although this depends on the availability of individual coaches.

We stream players on ability as well as age, which means they can play hardball when they are accomplished and confident enough.

girls & boys in YEAR 3 & below

The cricketing journey for our boys and girls starts with All Stars softball sessions for fives to eights. These are held on a Tuesday (4.30pm to 5.30pm). Please click HERE to go to the All Stars page to join. (Please note, there are currently delays to the ECB's AllStars joining process).

year 4 boys
Once juniors leave All Stars they do another year of softball, when they can represent the club in occasional tournaments. Under 9 softball is on a Wednesday evening (5.30pm to 6.30pm).

year 4, 5 & 6 GIRLS

We run under 11 softball sessions for girls on a Friday from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. These operate under the England and Wales Cricket Board's Cricket Dynamos brand. Please click HERE to go to the Dynamos page to join. (Please note, there are currently delays to the ECB's Dynamos joining process).

YEAR 5 TO YEAR 8 BOYS

Hardball cricket starts when children are under 10 – in Year 5 at primary school (although they can start hardball earlier).

We run two under 11 teams and two under 13 teams.

These teams practise on a Wednesday evening, with the under 11s playing league games on Sunday mornings and the under 13s playing league matches on a Thursday.

If your child is looking to join us at either under 11 or under 13, then you should read the information at the bottom of the page before contacting us.

year 7 & 8 GIRLS

We are running a hardball girls' team that plays in the eight-a-side pairs under 11 mixed league on a Sunday morning. We are partnering with Freeland CC for this. More details to come. Please contact us if your daughter has experience of hardball cricket and would like to play.

YEAR 9 & ABOVE BOYS

Under 15s train on a Friday evening from 6.30pm to 8pm and play league matches on a Monday evening at Witney Mills and at Freeland. We have two 11-a-side teams at this level. PLACES ARE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR EXPERIENCED HARDBALL CRICKETERS. FOR SAFETY REASONS, WE CANNOT ACCEPT BOYS WITHOUT EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE OF HARDBALL CRICKET.

We do not put pictures of our juniors or details of matches or training sessions on this site. These details can be found on our junior section Facebook page, which you will be invited to join when your child is a member. Communication with parents about training and matches is done using the Spond app.

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We would love to offer cricket to absolutely everyone. But, like all clubs, we have finite coaching resources.

Places in our junior section are limited because of very strict ECB guidelines on coach-player ratios. We regret that we cannot take more children than permitted by the ECB because doing so would invalidate the club's insurance and any insurance individual coaches have. This might mean we are full when you ask to join and we apologise for this.
A potential consequence of taking one extra child is that a child suffers a life-changing injury while practising, the coach is sued, their insurance is not valid because they have not stuck to ECB guidelines on numbers, they are found liable for lifelong care costs and they have to sell their home to fund these. This scenario is extremely unlikely, but it has happened elsewhere. Our coaches are lovely people, but don't be surprised if they react grumpily to requests for them to ignore the rules for your child.
We regret we cannot accept children over the age of 11 who have not previously played hardball cricket.
We regret we cannot immediately introduce children in Year 5 and Year 6 at school to hardball cricket. Girls in this age group can do softball Dynamos, while boys will be assessed by taking part in our under 9 softball sessions and allowed to move on to hardball when they are ready.
The aim with Year 5 and Year 6 boys who are starting cricket for the first time is to move them on as quickly and safely as possible to hardball cricket. The aim is not for these Year 5 and Year 6 'late starters' to stay playing softball.
The first few sessions for Year 5 and Year 6 boys trying cricket for the first time will be free until we establish whether they are likely to make the step to hardball quickly enough.
These free sessions are not trials to see whether a child likes the game. They are trials to see whether late starters have the natural ability and confidence to catch up quickly with the other children in their age group.
As a parent of a Year 5 or Year 6 boy, we would like you to ask yourself: "Does my child have the natural sporting ability and confidence to make up for having come to the game late and to move quickly to hardball cricket?" If the answer is "yes, I think so", then we will do all we can to help them.
If they are a Year 5 and Year 6 coming late to cricket because they have not enjoyed or been successful at other sports, then they may well struggle to make the transition to hardball quickly enough.
We will assess and support all children in Year 5 and Year 6 who want to give cricket a try – but we will be honest with parents about the likelihood of their child being able to move safely to hardball as quickly as they need to. The safety of children is paramount at Witney Mills.