ASTLEY BRIDGE BEARS

Junior Cricket

Carrying on from last season, we field six junior teams starting from our Astley Bridge Cubs (School Year 2 & below), U9s, U11s, U13s, U15, U18s.

Meet new people, make new friends and learn to play cricket in a caring and safe environment.

We have been awarded the ECB Clubmark Accreditation for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 which shows that the club is sustainable, well-run and provides the right environment for its members and players.

All our coaches are ECB Qualified and DBS-checked.

Club Policies

Please ensure both you and your child/children have familiarised yourselves with the club policies, especially the Codes of Conduct. These can be found by clicking here.

Club Clean Up / Training / Parent's Meeting

Over the weekend of the 5th and 6th April, the club will host it's Bears Club Clean Up Day ahead of the new season. We will confirm timings closer to the day, with details on all the activities and jobs to do.

Bears Friday Night Training

Our Bears Friday Training Evenings will commence on Friday 25th April 2025.

The timings are:

• Astley Bridge Cubs (School Years 2 and below) – 6:15pm to 7:15pm

• Under 9s, Under 11s, Under 13’s and Under 15’s – 6:15pm to 7:45pm

• Under 18s train with the senior teams on Wednesday evenings from 6:15pm – 8pm

We have a good number of coaches available this summer, including our new professional, Dhanushka Dhamasiri. We are also delighted that our overseas amateur from last year, Ulli Bronkhorst, is returning. We look forward to their arrival and working with them over the season.

Both Danu and Ulli will be available for private 1:1 coaching. More details in respect of this, including the costs will be available in April.

Junior Cricket Matches

The club has entered teams at all the junior age groups in the North West Cricket League - Under 9s through to Under 18s. The league’s website can be found here: nwcl.co.uk.

Bear’s games are scheduled to commence in early May and are played on different days across the week, dependent on the age group.

Once the fixtures are release, all the club’s fixtures and results can be found on the club’s Play-Cricket website: astleybridge.play-cricket.com

The eligibility criteria for the different age groups are that players must be “under” on 1st September 2024. For example, if a player is currently 15, but turned 15 after 1st September 2024, he/she can play for the Under 15s. Girls, however, can play 1 year below their “natural” age group.

League Registration

To play in league matches, players must be registered with the league.

All existing players from last season are automatically registered for this season.

Any new players to the club will have to provide an up-to-date photograph and a form of identification (usually a photo of the photo page of their passport). Please provide this to the relevant team manager as soon as possible.

Kit

Players should play matches in their Bears kit.

A match / training shirt is provided free with Bears membership. Sweaters and tracksuit bottoms are available to purchase and subsidised by the club to keep the price at an affordable figure.

If there are any issues with this, please speak with a club coach.

Equipment

In Under 11s matches and older, a hard ball is used and therefore protective equipment is required. As a minimum, this should include a helmet, batting gloves, batting pads and an abdominal guard. Wicket keepers will also need wicket keeping gloves. This equipment is available to purchase at some sports shops and specialist cricket shops, such as Cricket World, based at Astley Bridge Cricket Club.