Player Pathway

In metro regions each of the 18 men’s Premier Cricket clubs and 10 women’s Premier Cricket clubs will have their own academy established as part of a Premier Cricket Junior Development Program.

While in country regions each region will have their own academy established as part of a Country Development Program.

Academy squad age groups will stay consistent with the Dowling Shield, Marg Jennings Cup and Country Cup ages (under 16 for male & under 15 for female).

The academy squads will provide additional opportunities for up to 1,200 of the state’s best emerging talent and strongly align players with Premier Clubs in metro regions.

Squads for the Marg Jennings Cup, Dowling Shield and Country Cup carnivals will then be selected from the development academies.

The revamped CV Player Pathway will replace the Youth Premier League.

The Premier Cricket Under 18’s, Dowling Shield, Marg Jennings Cup, and Country Cup, will all consist of five rounds, plus finals.

Not at this stage, Cricket Victoria will work with relevant key stakeholders to assess the demand for renaming these competitions.

Male Under 18 matches will take place on Sundays through the season while female matches will be held in the January period.

No, senior men's 4th XI and women's 3rd XI teams will continue to operate as open age teams. Underage matches are scheduled on different days to senior matches, so players are eligible to play in both.

No, you may contact and trial for whichever club’s academy you choose, should there be availability in that program.

You may trial at more than one academy to get an understanding if this is the structure that is right for you, however you cannot complete full academy programs at multiple clubs.

Please ensure you are transparent with clubs if you are still in the stage of deciding which academy to play for.

Players will need to have decided to fully commit to one academy by the end of the registration period on July 31.

More is not always better; Premier Cricket Academies are planned environments, developing fundamental skills whilst supporting the athlete with a focus on long term athletic development.

Including yourself in multiple academies may cause an imbalance on physical performance, increase risk of workload/stress related injuries, as well as restricting time for other important factors such as school, family time and other sports participation.

If you have trialled or participated in more than one Premier Cricket Academy, you should now understand each club has its own philosophy and delivery method and choose the one that suits you best.

You will not be able to be named in multiple academies at the same time.

This is different for each club, some will be invite only, others will have trials and there will be some clubs that you will have the availability to join without trialling.

You can find a full list of male and female Victorian Premier Cricket clubs and relevant contacts here.

In metro regions, clubs will define the pricing structures for their academy programs as well as their Dowling Shield and Marg Jennings Cup squads – these prices will cover costs such as coaching, venue hire and equipment.

While in country regions, Cricket Victoria will subsidise the costs for all country academies. If selected as a Country Cup squad member, the registration fee will be $350 per participant.

Players may play in multiple competitions should fixturing and workload management allow.

All clubs will be given guidelines surrounding physical workloads for youth development and players should adhere to these to reduce the risk of sustaining injury. We also understand that athletic development is non-linear and do not want to put too many constraints in the way of a talented athlete. Each players situation will be taken on a case-by-case basis in conjunction with Cricket Victoria’s talent development team.

No. Should you not be selected in the Dowling Shield or Marg Jennings Cup squad of the academy you are involved in; you won’t be able to then join another squad at the end of the selection period and play in their team.

The only players who may be selected in the competitions from outside of the Premier Academies are:

- Country Cup participants; and

- Players who were not able to be involved in any academies due to other circumstances (i.e. other sport, school commitments, time & travel availability).

As at 1 September, to be eligible to part of the Male Academy and play in the Dowling Shield competition, players must be 14 or 15 years of age. To be eligible to be part of the Female Academy and play in the Marg Jennings Cup, players must be 12 - 14 years of age.

No. Players who are selected in the Dowling Shield and Marg Jennings Cup are ineligible to be selected in Craig Shield (VSDCA), Julie Savage Shield, Jim Beitzel Shield and Keith Mackay Shield (VMCU) competitions.

The reason for this is due to workload considerations as the competitions will take place at the same times.

As the academy is a talent development program, squad sizes of 30 players are the maximum intake per academy. Clubs will ultimately decide the capacity of their academy squad that they will operate.

The ideal scenario is a club identifying and developing talent through their academy for selection in their underage Premier Cricket competitions. However, we foresee several scenarios where players are selected for the carnival competitions from outside the academy, so there will be no stipulations that the entirety of the match day squads have come from premier club training academies.

No. To be eligible to play in the Under 18 competitions, a player must be: Female Under 18 Competition: 15, 16 or 17 years of age as at 1 September. Male Under 18 Competition: 16 or 17 years of age as at 1 September.

Completing a cricket academy or playing in the Premier Cricket junior competition will have you registered with that club. Should you wish to change clubs then a permit would be required with justification to do so. This is the same process undertaken by senior players in Premier Cricket.

Yes, you may add additional players to your academy should a player withdraw for any reason.

As highlighted in the Player Pathway infographic above, there are multiple avenues for higher selection in the future and playing Dowling Shield/Marg Jennings Cup is not a pre-requisite for these selections.

Country regions (Waves, Highlanders, Suns, Rivers, Knights & Pride) will select a team of 13 players based on performances in the Association Representative Cricket (e.g., Junior Country Week or Western Victorian Girls Cup). Development sessions and a match will be played against the neighbouring region in February/March. 

The All Star Program age group is U14 Female and U15 Male. This program will be overseen by the Regional Talent Coaches and leads into the Country Academies as part of the Country Cup for the following season.

We want to ensure every talented player across Regional Victoria, gets the same opportunity to be identified, developed and perform. This competition will be based on the existing region structures (Waves, Highlanders, Suns, Rivers, Knights & Pride) and will be delivered by Cricket Victoria Cricket Performance Department.

The Cricket Victoria Country Talent Development Specialist will oversee this process and program with the support of the Regional Talent Coaches and Region Country Cup Coaches. The Country Cup is where the most talented country players will showcase their skill sets and learnings from the Country Academies. Performances in the Country Cup will assist Cricket Victoria with the selection of players into the Cricket Victoria Emerging Players Programs (Victoria Country). Country Cup Age Group & Timings: U15 Female & U16 Male – December.

An important phase of the Cricket Victoria Player Pathway is the underage Premier Cricket competition for all aspiring and talented players.

Premier Cricket is the pinnacle club competition in Victoria and players need to be playing this competition at a senior level to be selected for any senior Victorian team. The underage Premier competition (Under 16 Boys Dowling Shield & Under 15 Girls Marg Jennings Cup) gives players the flexibility to play at a Premier club without having to commit for the whole season, this is especially important for country players who are unable to travel long distances consistently.

The Cricket Victoria Country Talent Development Specialist, Regional Talent Coaches, Association Representatives and Premier Clubs will work together to identify country players who are aspirational and talented. Country players can participate in both the Country Academy/Country Cup and a Premier Cricket Academy/Dowling Shield or Marg Jennings.

Country players who haven’t been selected in the a Dowling Shield or Marg Jennings Cup team can be identified and connected to a Premier Cricket club through strong performances in the Country Cup.

The Cricket Victoria Country Talent Development Specialist, Regional Talent Coaches and Region Country Cup Coaches are available to support the talented country players & parents with connecting into Premier Cricket.