AFTER a six-year hiatus, the Broken Hill Junior Cricket League is back with an under-12s mixed super eight competition beginning on Saturday, February 8, 2025.
The match will be the first in a 10-week competition, and the first held in Broken Hill since 2019, with the local team never recovering after COVID-19.
The game is at the Norm Fox Oval and starts at 8am, all children aged 10-12 years old are welcome to play, and equipment will be supplied.
Junior cricket coach, James Green, moved back to Broken Hill last year after growing up in the region and leaving in 2016.
“I only moved back to town in January last year and the first thing I asked was how to get involved with junior cricket,” he said.
“I basically got told there wasn’t any, so I put my hand up for the job to try and get it back up and running.”
After seeing the gap and need for junior cricket, like he played as a kid in Broken Hill, Mr Green helped to start Woolworths Cricket Blast, which is casual cricket for under-10s.
However, he found the gap for kids older than that remained.
“2019 was when we stopped junior cricket, since then it’s really fallen off,” Mr Green said.
“We’ve run our blasters program a couple of years in a row now, but now we’re starting the under-12s competition back up this year.”
Mr Green can see the need in the community, and knows first-hand the short and long-term benefits of junior sport.
“I’m a firm believer that junior sport is a key part of any sport, without juniors we don’t have cricket,” he said.
“At the moment we’ve got a very ageing cricket group.
“I’m 31 and don’t want to be playing until I’m 50 because we didn’t have a junior comp.
“Without juniors, in 10 years’ time, we’re not going to have a senior cricket competition.
“Plus, we’ve got kids that go to Mildura and play because there’s no competition here.”
He said the under-12s 2025 season will be aimed at kids 10,11,12, and up to 13 for inexperienced players, with potential to create an under-15s next year and over the next three years, an under-18s.
“We’re going to be running it independent of all the clubs,” he said.
“It’s super eight style, which is eight per side, T20.”
The league is looking for coaches, and more players.
For anyone interested in coaching or thinks their child would like to play, check the Broken Hill Junior Cricket Association Facebook page, or email juniors.bdcl@gmail.com.
