One of the key developmental issues for cricket in Leinster is the ability of clubs to provide an outlet for young cricketers to participate in the sport and to enhance their skills. Cricket Leinster’s Strategy Plan 2020 [can be viewed / downloaded from CL website. Go to Regulations > Guidance] sets out a clear statement of intent:
It is the main purpose of Cricket Leinster to articulate and implement a vision for cricket that would ensure that any person, so inclined, is able to take up the sport and, subject only to their ambition, commitment and innate skill, is able to develop their full potential and compete up to the highest levels within the sport, regardless of where they live in Leinster.
Over the past number of years there has been a steady growth in the number of clubs and teams competing at all levels in the sport. One of the items of information that has been missing, however, has been the level of participation of youth players in adult cricket. The transmission belt of young cricketers into the adult competition is important not only to sustain participation but to provide the opportunity for them to improve their skills and gain experience.
The more detailed statistics that have been collected from the new system of registration for the Open Competitions [we will focus on the women’s game in another article] has allowed us to look at the process of bringing young cricketers through the club game in more detail. Over time we will be able to identify trends and perhaps come to some conclusions about what is best practice in this critical aspect of the development of the sport in Leinster.
The figures below may contain lessons for those charged with the responsibility for developing the sport and for individual clubs. At this point no attempt is made to draw any conclusions from the figures. Clubs adopt different practices when it comes to introducing young players to adult competition [age thresholds, minimum number of youth players per team, balance between under age and adult cricket etc]. But over time as more figures are collected it will be possible to get a better picture of the age and levels at which young players are introduced to the sport and how this affects the dropout rate from the sport and player development.
The table below provides details [up to 1st June] of the number of players under the age of 19 who have played in OC league or cup matches [YP], the ratio of players to teams [TR], the number of matches [MY] and the ratio of games to players [MR]. Clubs with youth sections [i.e. compete in youth competitions organised by the CL Youth and Schools Section] is also identified [YS].
| 01-Jun | |||||
| YP | TR | MY | MR | YS | |
| Adamstown | 4 | 1.00 | 11 | 2.75 | YES |
| Bagenalswon | 6 | 3.00 | 10 | 1.67 | |
| Balbriggan | 11 | 3.67 | 29 | 2.64 | YES |
| Castleknock | 4 | 1.33 | 24 | 6.00 | YES |
| Civil Service | 9 | 2.25 | 26 | 2.89 | YES |
| Clontarf | 26 | 4.33 | 104 | 4.00 | YES |
| Cork County | 2 | 2.00 | 4 | 2.00 | YES |
| Dundalk | 5 | 2.50 | 20 | 4.00 | |
| Greystones | 4 | 1.33 | 11 | 2.75 | YES |
| Halverstown | 2 | 2.00 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| Knockharley | 11 | 3.67 | 33 | 3.00 | YES |
| Laois | 5 | 1.67 | 16 | 3.20 | YES |
| Leinster | 18 | 2.57 | 75 | 4.17 | YES |
| Longford | 7 | 3.50 | 36 | 5.14 | |
| Malahide | 15 | 3.00 | 52 | 3.47 | YES |
| Merrion | 14 | 1.75 | 44 | 3.14 | YES |
| Mullingar | 9 | 3.00 | 22 | 2.44 | |
| North County | 19 | 3.80 | 122 | 6.42 | YES |
| North Kildare | 7 | 2.33 | 22 | 3.14 | YES |
| Pembroke | 23 | 3.83 | 100 | 4.35 | YES |
| Phoenix | 20 | 3.33 | 61 | 3.05 | YES |
| Railway | 10 | 1.67 | 39 | 3.90 | YES |
| Ringcommons | 2 | 2.00 | 4 | 2.00 | |
| Rush | 9 | 2.25 | 39 | 4.33 | YES |
| Slieve Bloom | 4 | 4.00 | 8 | 2.00 | |
| Swords | 1 | 0.50 | 1 | 1.00 | |
| Terenure | 15 | 5.00 | 65 | 4.33 | YES |
| The Hills | 10 | 2.50 | 39 | 3.90 | YES |
| Wexford | 1 | 0.50 | 6 | 6.00 | |
| YMCA | 26 | 5.20 | 118 | 4.54 | YES |
| 299 | 2.77 | 1147 | 3.84 |
The figure of 299 youth players does not include those who are playing for DU [4] but who would otherwise be included by age.
The total number of players who have participated in OC games currently stands at 1572, so it is clear that the youth players make up a sizeable proportion of the overall numbers that turn out each weekend.