It was revealed in June this year that Woolworths would be the new major sponsor of Australian junior cricket, and with a new supporter has come new competitions. 

The revamped program for children aged between five and seven is called Junior Blasters, while kids between the ages of seven and 10 will compete in the Master Blasters competition. 

Yass kids between the ages of 10 to 14 will compete in the Weston Shield as they have done in previous years. 

Harding believes that the new formats will help to increase the number of children playing cricket in Yass from what has always been a fairly stable intake. 

“We’re trying to get as many kids involved as we can in the game,” Harding said. 

Some of the changes for the younger groups include more gameplay styled learning, to help incorporate the development of cricket skills into their knowledge of the game as a whole. 

“We’ll get as many kids as we can actually playing a modified game, as opposed to doing skills and drills,” Harding said. 

“We’ll do more individual games within that age group, they will all get a bat, a bowl, and a field, and we’ll work on their skills at the same time.

“It’s a fairly fast-paced, fun game.” 

Along with the changes to the youngest divisions of the sport, Yass Junior Cricket will also continue working towards its goal of establishing a team for players aged between 14 and 16. 

This has been a long-held ambition in Yass, as it is widely believed by both senior and junior officials that many young players do not continue on to compete in the older ranks due to the lack of a clear pathway from adolescent cricket to adult cricket. 

“One of the things we’re trying over the coming years … is to get an Under 16’s side that can either compete in the Goulburn competition, or we would organise some inter-town competitions on a Sunday,” Harding said. 

“We’ll try and get kids of that age continuing to play cricket, because that’s an area where there’s a shortfall at the moment.” 

Giving kids access to such a competition will be key in future years, as there is no doubt that the talent exists throughout the Yass Valley. 

Following the announcement that Yass District Cricket, under the zoning changes announced by Cricket NSW earlier this year, would leave the Riverina Zone and become part of the ACT Southern District Zone, several local kids attended representative trials which were held in Goulburn in July and August. 

“We’ve had two boys selected in the Under 16’s, one in the Under 14’s plus two in the training squad, and four kids in the Under 12’s,” Harding said. 

Trials for an Under 15’s girls side will take place on Monday September 24. 

The Yass Junior Cricket registration day will take place on October 20. For more information, contact Andrew Harding at yassjuniorcricket@gmail.com.