NCA Hardball & NCL Softball Junior Competition Entries Open for 2026

Entries for the 2026 Junior Competitions within Norfolk are now open ahead of the 2026 season.

As in 2025, the Norfolk Cricket Alliance will be running the Junior Hardball Competitions which run from U9s through to U17s and the Norfolk Cricket League will be running the Junior Softball Competitions which run at U9, U11 and U13s.

The deadline for entries into each competition closes on 31st January 2026.

Full details can be found below about each competition.

NCA Junior Hardball Competition 2026 (U9/U11/U13/U15/U17)

Entries are now open to all NCF affiliated clubs and not just those within the NCA for the 2026 season. Entries are free of charge. Deadline for entries is 31^st January 2026.

For NCA clubs and those NCL clubs that have previously entered, the entry forms can be found in the Admin Section of your club’s Play Cricket Website in the Action Centre. In here you should find a pending ‘Order’. Select this and then enter the number of teams per age group competition you wish to enter and then submit.

For those clubs interested in softball cricket, the U9, U11 and U13 Competitions will once again be run by the Norfolk Cricket League. The NCF will be running Girls ONLY softball and hardball competitions.

If you encounter any problems or would like to understand more information about the NCA junior hardball competitions, please contact Mark Stokes directly via email at stokesmark10@yahoo.co.uk

NCL Junior Softball Competition 2026 (U9/U11/U13)

Following another successful 2025 season for the U9 and U11 Softball, The Norfolk Cricket League, in conjunction with the Norfolk Cricket Foundation, is continuing the competitions for 2026. Deadline for entries is 31^st January 2026.

The playing format will remain the same in 2026 with the addition of an U13 Softball Competition.

As previous years, it is envisaged that clubs will play the games in groups of 4, each club hosting a festival day, with the top two teams moving to the next stage of the competition and the bottom two moving into the plate competition. Full details will released at the pre-season meeting in April.

Entry is free to all clubs in the competition, which links strongly to the ECB All-Stars and Dynamos initiatives. All NCL clubs have been contacted directly, however the competition is open to all clubs within Norfolk, and I hope that this is of interest. If this is the case, please let either myself, Peter Minns or Aaron Seekings (Norfolk Cricket Foundation) know by return email by no later than 31st January 2026, and advise the relevant contact, so that I can get information to you

On behalf of the NCL, I hope that this is of interest to your club, and that you will seek to enter the competitions for 2026, which have been kindly sponsored again by Hunts County Bats.

Tim Porter: timporter1811@gmail.com
Peter Minns: peter.minns@norfolkcricket.co.uk
Aaron Seekings: aaron.seekings@norfolkcricket.co.uk