U16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield
The Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield is a Commonwealth Bank Cricket Pathway competition program held in January each year. The competition originally consisted of all Cricket Victoria Premier Clubs and when the pathway was introduced in 1999 teams from the six country regions were included to form a truly statewide competition. Many of the current Bushrangers squad have played in the Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield including Cameron White, Brad Hodge, James Pattinson, Jon Holland, Rob Quiney, Aaron Finch, Aiden Blizzard and Andrew McDonald. Past players who have played in the Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield are Damien Fleming, Colin Miller, Darren Berry, Matthew Elliott, Shane Warne, Simon O’Donnell and Adam Dale.
From 2004/05 the Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield has been played as a regional competition. All 16 Cricket Victoria regions will enter a team in the Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield. This means there will be eight metropolitan teams and eight country teams.
The eight metro regions will be aligned to Premier Clubs. This alignment is only for pathway competitions for the use of facilities and coaching. Players can still play Premier Cricket at ANY of the 18 Premier Clubs they wish.
The regional alignment is as follows:
Barwon Rockets:
Geelong CC
Gippsland:
Casey - South Melbourne CC
South East Country Sharks:
Frankston Peninsula CC
Western Spirit:
Footscray CC
North West Wizards:
Essendon CC, North Melbourne CC
Northern Cowboys:
Carlton CC, Melbourne University CC
North East Falcons:
Northcote CC, Richmond CC
Inner East Emus:
Camberwell Magpies CC, Fitzroy Doncaster CC
Outer East Eagles:
Ringwood CC, Hawthorn Monash Uni CC
South East Seagulls:
Melbourne CC, St Kilda CC
Southern Rangers:
Dandenong CC, Prahran CC
Mallee Murray Bulls, Western Waves, Central Highlands, Northern Rivers and North East Knights will have no official allignment with Premier Clubs for Dowling Shield.
With fewer teams and smaller squads in the Under 16 Commonwealth Bank Dowling Shield players who are not selected to represent their region are encouraged to trial for their association team in either the Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union's Under 16 Beitzel Sheild or Victorian Country Cricket League's Junior County Weeks. Both these competitions are played the same time as Dowling Shield in January.
For more information please contact Cricket Victoria on (03) 9653 1100
