The cricket section has been in existence since the Old Parktonian Association was formed in the 1930”s.

Some well-known Old Parks cricketers who came out of the school were Dave Ironside, Don Stewart, Don Pistorius , Paul Kimber ,Stan Berger , Sam Rubin , Dave Webster , Tony Upton ,Jack Skewis , Harry Shapiro, John Horak, Bruce Muller,  David Van der Knaap , Ronald Desilla, Doug Neilson,  Noel Day , John Varty and many more.

The Club has been an affiliate member of the Gauteng Cricket Board from inception of the Transvaal Cricket Union.

The club’s First team has been represented in the Premier League also since inception of the Transvaal Cricket Union.

The Premier League was last won in 1975.

The current Chairman and First team coach is Doug Neilson the former Transvaal ‘Mean Machine” all-rounder who represented Transvaal , as it was then known, for over 12 years .

Unfortunately due to the country’s isolation from all forms of International sport many
cricketers/players could not represent their country.

Senior Cricket

Committee

Chairperson:  Doug Neilson – 082 560 8517 – doug@sgha.co.za
Vice-Chairperson – Peter Dickson – 083 271 0571
Secretary – Melissa Dashper – 084 208 8085
Treasurer- Andrew Jones - 083 291 6218
Club Captain – Craig Moore -073 486 4138

Practice Times (starting from 6th August 2009)

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 16h30 onwards - All new cricketers welcome

Training in the form of a 5k time trial run will start for all cricketers from 23/6/2009

Number of teams entered in the League

 3 Sunday Teams and 3 Saturday Teams

WHAT IS OLD PARKS JUNIOR CRICKET ALL ABOUT  ?

Old Parks has established a long standing reputation of being one of the finest Junior Cricket Clubs throughout Gauteng. It is one of the guiding principles of Old Parks Junior Cricket to follow the “process” and not the “product” approach to coaching. With our focus being on development and not winning. Winning becomes a natural result of playing well, yet not an end in itself. We therefore are more impressed by a boy who makes a good 15 than one who slogs his way to 50.

We  follow a  structured  coaching  curriculum  laid  out  by  Mr. Harry Shapiro.  (A recognised Level 4 coach both here in South African and Australia). Plus have the on hand support and guidance of a Director of Coaching.

THE SEASON ITSELF.

Old Parks Junior Cricket starts its’ 2009/10 Season in September 2009.

Registration Day will be on Saturday the 5^th Sept. ‘09  -  9:00a.m. to 11:00a.m., at which point we will advertise when practices will commence, plus will be able to confirm costs etc for the upcoming Season.

The season runs up until the 2^nd week of March the next year and is effectively broken into two sections, Pre-Christmas and Post-Christmas. Children remain part of the same age group which they start in, through both parts of the season.

CLASSIFICATION OF AGE GROUPS.

Old Parks Junior Cricket caters for Age Groups  U6 – U13, which is determined based on the year in which your child is born.  In other words  . . .

                       U6’s   -  Players born 2003 (or younger)

                       U7’s   -  Players born 2002

                       U9’s   -  Players born 2000 & 2001

                       U11’s -  Players born 1998 & 1999

                       U13’s -  Players born 1996 & 1997

All players born 1994 (or older) fall part of our Seniors and are to contact Doug Nielson on 082-560-8517 if wishing to register.

PRACTICE TIMES.

Practices start @ 8:30a.m. - sharp. This means that players are to in fact be down at least 10 minutes before hand. Punctuality is of the utmost importance and we must ask that you, the parents, respect that. The various age groups practice times are as follows . . .

             U6’s & U7’s   -    8:30a.m.   -   10:15 / 10:30a.m.

             U9’s               -   8:30a.m.   -   10:45 / 11:00a.m.

             U11’s             -   8:30a.m.   -   11:00 / 11:15a.m.

             U13’s             -   8:30a.m.   -   11:15 / 11:30a.m.

(Due to the nature of the game it isn’t always possible to conclude practices exactly on time. Your support in this regard would be appreciated, and ask that at all possible you refrain from pulling your child away before practice has officially ended). 

MATCHES.

OLD PARKS JUNIOR SIX A SIDE TOURNAMENT

For those lads still in town over December we will be once again holding our 6-a-Side Tournament – around the 16^th December.   (Full details will be sent out around end Oct.).

KIT AND EQUIPMENT.

Players are asked to wear their Club cap, a white shirt, with white shorts / longs.

Each players must bring his/her own juice to practices.

Please do not give your child “drink money” as they will not be permitted to run-off to the bar during “drinks break”.

Also please ensure that your child is adequately protected from the sun by sunblock / suntan cream.

Equipment 

Please ensure that all items are clearly labelled with the players name and age group. The Club will not be responsible for any lost or stolen items. Players must ensure that they look after their equipment, sealing away all items in their cricket bags when not in use.

VOLUNTEERS.

The success of an amateur club depends heavily on the support it gets from it’s members, and in this case it’s parents. All our present coaches are volunteers and will require as much assistance as possible. At the end of the day Junior Cricket takes up only 2 -3 hours of your time each Saturday morning, when and where you can spare it. We assure you that anyone volunteering will be given the full support he/she needs and will never be expected to do more than what they’re comfortable with.

We need support in the areas of coaching and administration within each age group. Anyone willing to get involved is to please contact me. (Contact details listed below).

SPONSORSHIP.

Subscriptions form only a part in ensuring that we cover our costs, with sponsorship being the difference of whether we just make ends meet or are able to take Old Parks Junior Cricket to new levels. Therefore once again appeal to anyone who is able to support to speak to me.

CONTACT DETAILS

Duncan Craggs

Junior Cricket Chairman

(Cell)  084-317-9825

(E-mail)  duncanc@iquadts.co.za

Old Parks does run a small Winter Cricket Program which although part of Club Cricket, does function completely separately to our normal Summer structure.

Sadly Winter Cricket 2009 is catering only to boys aged 11, 12 & 13, (i.e. born 1995, 1996 & 1997), and is currently in full swing.

It is a Saturday afternoon environment run by Mr. Craig Taylor.

Please contact Craig directly to confirm costs, times and how you lads can get involved :-

Craig Taylor   -   084-452-5182   -   devont@iafrica.com