ECB Vitality U13 & U15 Knockout Draw 2023

The Draw for the 2023 ECB Vitality U13 and U15 Club Knock-Out Competition in Norfolk has been completed by competition organiser Peter Minns.

The winner of each competition in Norfolk will go on to represent the county in the regional/national stages of the competition as in previous years.

Please scroll down to view the full draw below or click on the link at the bottom of the page to download the draw which includes the road to the final.

U13 First Round (Completed by Sunday 21st May)

Fakenham CC vs Downham & Stow CC
Winterton CC vs Horsford CC 
Great Melton CC vs Brooke CC 
Swardeston CC- Bye 

U15 First Round (Completed by Sunday 21st May)

Downham & Stow CC vs Fakenham
Horsford CC vs Hethersett & TV CC
Brooke CC vs Swardeston CC 
Great Melton CC- Bye 

Result Recording:

ALL match results should be reported to Peter Minns at NCB within 24 hours of the completion date, via email at peter.minns@norfolkcricket.co.uk. Results should be reported by the winning team. 

County Youth Players:

Please note that the ECB rule for county players is that in the local (Norfolk) rounds the County has precedence on selection of county players if there is a clash of matches. Once the competition reaches the Regional and National stages then the club has precedence on selection.

Competition Rules:

Full rules for these competitions can be found here:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/governance/regulations/non-first-class-regulations

Coloured Clothing 

As the popularity in coloured clothing grows, particularly in the Vitality U19 T20 competition, this is something that ECB would like to see introduced throughout these competitions. ECB appreciate that there will be concerns about the cost element of playing in coloured kit so this is not going to be compulsory and it is up to you as a county if/how you introduce this. It may be that some clubs wish to have a full coloured kit (both shirts and trousers) while others may just wish to use a club coloured training shirt and white trousers and others may prefer to stay in full whites, all of which are fine. We would probably look to encourage teams not to have red or pink as their main colours though to avoid clashing with the ball.

To support the use of coloured kit you may wish to use pink balls in your county competition (as they have done in some U19 T20 competitions) but this again is by no means compulsory, red balls will be just fine. We used pink balls for the national stages of the competition in 2022 and this is something we are going to repeat in 2023.

The NCB line (in terms of the ECB guidance above) is that we will encourage the use of coloured clothing and pink balls where appropriate but at this stage (for 2023) these will not be compulsory .It will the decision of individual clubs as to what clothing and balls they use. The decision on the ball will be the decision of the home team. Ideally teams should consult with their opponents on these matters when arranging fixtures.

Competition Rules and Regulations

For the 2016 season ECB trialed allowing batsmen to return after they had retired if all of their team had been dismissed. This was introduced with the best intentions but it became clear that there were a small number of clubs that used this regulation to their advantage and go very much against the spirit of cricket i.e. telling lower order batsmen to get out so that retired batsmen could return.

For 2023, as in 2021 and 2022, we will continue with the original competition rule which states once a player has reached a total by which they have to retire (30 for U13, 50 for U15), that player cannot return to bat, even if the other batsmen are all out.

County Finals

Clubs will arrange the final in conjunction with NCB who will arrange for umpires to be present and match balls provided. Medals and trophies will also be provided by NCB.

More Information

For more information or help, please contact NCB competition oraganiser Peter Minns at peter.minns@norfolkcricket.co.uk