HKCA releases fixtures and rules for 2011-12 HKCA Junior Leagues

The Hong Kong Cricket Association has released the fixtures and competition rules for the Under-11, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 junior leagues for the 2011-12 season.

The fixtures can be viewed on the HKCA (www.cricket.com.hk) and Crick-kid (www.crick-kid.com) websites or via the following direct links:

Playing conditions and league rules are also available for download from the both websites or via the following links:

HKCA Junior Cricket Coordinator, Travis Pittman, explained the rationale behind the junior league structure for the 2011-12 season.

"We have had an increase in the number of teams wanting to play junior cricket in 2011-12 which is an encouraging sign. However, we can't use the Mission Road ground until November and the PKVR Reservoir ground is unlikely to be available until the end of the season, if at all, so it has been a struggle finding available grounds for all the matches. To fit in all the games in all the leagues, we've had to rationalize when and where the matches will be played," said Pittman.

"Kai Tak is our only multi-wicket facility so it makes sense to play the Under-11 and Under-13 Leagues on that ground, when we can play multiple games concurrently. We'll play the Under-11 League on Sunday mornings and try to fit matches before the start of the Sunday Championship League games", he added.

"We recognize that the Under-17 boys should be given the opportunity to play in the Sunday senior competition, so we've scheduled Under-17 League matches on Saturday mornings at Kai Tak and will then switch matches to Mission Road once that ground reopens. The Under-15 League will be played on Sunday mornings at HKU and at Stephen's College on Sunday afternoons which will hopefully allow the boys to also play in the Saturday Championship Division senior competition. Once the Under-17s have moved to Mission Road, we can then start the Under-13 League at Kai Tak on Saturday mornings."

"Trying to fit all the matches in to the available grounds has been like doing a jig-saw puzzle," concluded Pittman.

Junior league matches are scheduled to start on the weekend of 1-2 October 2011.

School League fixtures and competition rules will be released shortly.