Ashes star praises new junior formats

Any boy or girl in Toowoomba who is inspired to play cricket after watching the upcoming women’s Ashes series won’t have an excuse to not have a go.

Australian cricketer Alex Blackwell, who is playing in the Ashes on Sunday, said that is thanks to major changes that have been made to the junior game.

Blackwell said the new junior formats – and the rapid growth of girl’s cricket – provides Darling Downs juniors with opportunities that weren’t available to previous generations.

What amazed the former Australian captain most about the overhaul aimed to increase player participation is the changes are “so simple”.

The junior formats have been tailored for young cricketers aged between 9-12 by reducing the length of the pitch; shortening the boundaries; having less fielders and guaranteeing each player the opportunity to bat and bowl.

Toowoomba, Warwick, Goondiwindi, Chinchilla and St George are four out of the 160 associations in Australian to adopt Stage one of the new juniors formats for the 2017/18 summer season.

“It was such a simple shift to make,” Blackwell said.

“It makes sense that the size of the ground and the length of the pitch needs to be matched to the size and ability of the people playing the sport.”

She said the changes have also created a higher quality and more entertaining game for parents and spectators to watch.