History
ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ASSOCIATION
The North Eastern Junior Cricket Association (NEJCA) was established to service the growing number of children who lived in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide and wanted who to play club cricket.
Community Clubs in association with the SACA grade clubs in the area formed Under 10, Under 12 and Under 14 competitions that provided a safe and structured environment for children to play and learn the game of cricket.
Over the years NEJCA has continued to grow and currently comprises of 18 clubs, with over 100 teams located within the North Eastern area of Adelaide.
Games originally were all played on Sunday mornings from 9:00am to 12:00 noon.
Current seasons Under 10, Under 12 & Under 14 junior cricket games are played on Sunday mornings with Under 10 games from 8:30am to 11:00am and Under 12 & Under 14 games from 8:30am to 12:00 noon, with some Under 10 games fixtured on Friday evenings from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. Under16 games are played on Sunday afternoons from 12:30pm to 5:45pm for one=day games and 1:00pm – 5:30pm for two-day games.
The Association receives tremendous support from the Community Club’s Junior Coordinators and this support has seen the Association continue to flourish and provide an important introduction to cricket for young players.
NEJCA Community Clubs initially supported entry level cricket skills programs, Milo Cricket & Milo T20 Blast and now some Clubs host Woolworths Cricket Blast programs for 5- to 8 year-olds. These programs are designed to develop basic cricket skills in a fun active series of sessions with an emphasis on participation.
Growth and Changes to the Association
Initially the competition consisted of only the Under 13 teams commencing in season 2001/2002, but due to over whelming demand an Under 11 competition was established for the 2004/2005 season. In season 2007/2008 further demand prompted the creation of an Under 9 competition.
Under 9 Competition
The Under 9 competition from 2007/08 until 2016/17 was a combination of one and two-day games fixtured across the season with no premiership points or finals.
When the Under 9 competition was changed to Under 10’s in the 2017/2018 season in combination with the introduction of CA Junior Formats conditions and rules, all Under 10 games changed to one-day 20 over games across the season.
The Original Under 11 & Under 13 Central, North & East Competitions
The Under 11 North, Under 11 East, Under 13 North and Under 13 East Competitions commenced in the 2004/2005 season joining the Under 13 Central Competition that commenced in the 2001/2002 season. All these competitions were a combination of one and two-day games fixtured across the season with premiership points and Finals played.
The Competitions continued until the 2012/2013 season when there was a change in the names of the Divisions. Season 2011/2012 was the last season that Grade Clubs entered teams into the NEJCA Competition.
The Red, White and Blue Competitions
The Competitions had name changes to Under II & Under 13 Red (Division One), Under 11 & Under 13 White (Division Two) & Under 11 & Under 13 Blue (Division Three) for cricket season 2012/2013.
The Under 9 Competition remained unchanged.
Under 11 Zones & Under 13 Zones 1, 2 & 3 were introduced as Season 2012/2013 commenced with four rounds comprising of one-day 30 over grading games at the beginning of each season until the 2018/2019 cricket season.
After the grading games were completed, teams could be moved into different Divisions to provide an even and competitive competition for all teams and players as possible, during the minor round games for the season, which commenced with teams in Red, White or Blue Divisions. Games were all fixtured as a combination of one and two-day games across the season. Premiership points in all Under 11 and Under 13 Competitions were allocated and finals were played.
Competitions change of names to Division One, Two and Three and later the introduction of CA Junior Formats
Under 10, Under 12 & Under 14 Divisions 1,2,3 names changed in season 2017/18 with the introduction of Cricket Australia Junior Formats – which also brought in shorter pitch lengths and less players/team for Under 10 & Under 12 games to assist with player skill development and to increase participation for Junior cricketers each week.
All Under 10, Under 12 & Under 14 Division 3 games changed to all one-day games across the season, and Under 14 Divisions One and Two are a combination of one- and two-day games across the cricket season.
In Season 2019/20 the grading rounds were reduced to three rounds at the beginning of the season for all three Under 12 & Under 14 Divisions
Under 12 and U14 competitions continue to have premiership points allocated and play finals in each of the competitions.
T20 Competitions
In addition to the Sunday morning competitions NEJCA introduced T20 Competitions in the 2009/2010 season which commenced as a Knockout competition held on Friday evenings with games commencing at 5:00pm and continued in this format of Under 11 and Under 13 T20 Knockout Competitions until the end of the 2016/2017 cricket season.
From season 2017/2018 until season 2019/2020 T20 Round Robin Competitions were played in Under 12 and Under14 Competitions on Friday evenings from 5:00pm with finals played.
