Getting your cricket club ready for 2027: a winter checklist for selection and availability

The covers are on, the nets are quiet, and most volunteers are glad of the break. But winter is the best time to fix the things that made match weeks stressful last summer. Decisions made calmly in January save a lot of Thursday-night scrambling in May.

There are plenty of guides on winter ground maintenance. This one focuses on something that gets less attention: how your club handles availability, selection and team sheets. Work through it at a committee meeting, or split it between your captains and junior coaches.

Look back at 2026 first

Ask your captains and coaches what went wrong

Before planning anything, spend ten minutes asking the people who did selection every week:

• Where did availability get stuck?
• How often did sides go out short, or with late changes?
• Were there disagreements about players moving between teams?
• Did any junior parents raise concerns about selection or game time?

Write the answers down. They'll tell you which items below matter most for your club.

Check what records you actually have

Do you know who played in each match last season? If that information is spread across group chats, notebooks and a spreadsheet on someone's laptop, now is the time to decide where it lives for 2027.

Agree your selection rules

Write or refresh your selection policy

A short, plain-English policy helps captains, players and parents alike. Cover:

• How availability is collected, and the weekly deadline
• What happens if someone doesn't reply (many clubs treat this as unavailable)
• The order in which sides pick when several play on the same day
• Who can play up or down, and who decides

Junior sides: decide how you'll keep selection fair

If your junior squads are bigger than the format needs, agree in advance how you'll decide who plays. Say whether each age group is mainly about development or competition, and whether you'll rotate or prioritise children who've played fewer games.

The ECB's Junior Cricket Format Recommendations for Under 8s to 11s aim to "maximise participation across the age group", with formats where every player bowls. Your policy can carry that same spirit through to who gets selected across the season.

Check the rules for juniors in adult cricket

If juniors play in your senior sides, make sure captains know the ECB's Regulations and Guidelines for Junior Cricketers in Open Age Cricket, including the need for written parental approval countersigned by the club's safeguarding officer. Check for any updates over the winter and whether your league has its own rules too.

Get your teams and people sorted

Confirm teams, captains and coaches

List every side you'll run in 2027, from the 1st XI to the youngest junior group, and confirm who captains or coaches each one. Name a deputy for each, so selection doesn't stop when someone's on holiday.

Update contact details

Contact lists go stale fast. Check players' and parents' details over the winter, and make sure new members from last season are included. Follow your club's data protection policy when you collect and share them.

Brief new volunteers

New captains and junior coaches often learn the selection routine by trial and error. A one-page "how we do selection here" guide, or a short chat before the season, makes their first few weeks much easier.

Set up your weekly routine before April

Pick how availability will work

Decide where players and parents will reply, when you'll ask and when the deadline is. Use one approach across the club, so players aren't answering five captains in five different ways.

Agree a standard team sheet

Agree what every team sheet includes: match, venue and postcode, meet and start times, captain and wicketkeeper, and who to contact about drop-outs. Decide how it'll be sent, and when.

Plan training replies and team messages too

Training sessions and team messages often get lost in the same group chats as availability. Decide where they'll live, so important notices actually get read.

Check it fits with Play-Cricket

Most clubs keep fixtures and results on Play-Cricket. Make sure whatever you use for availability and selection fits comfortably alongside it, rather than creating double entry for volunteers.

Do a trial run

Don't wait for the first league match to test your new routine. Use a pre-season friendly, an indoor session or the first training night as a dry run. Ask for availability, publish a team sheet and see what breaks. It's much easier to fix things in March than mid-season.

Where CricketRight fits

If you're looking for one place to run availability and selection in 2027, CricketRight is selection management built only for cricket. It covers availability, team selection, team sheets by email and in the app, training sessions and team messages, and works alongside Play-Cricket. For junior sides, Fairness First is a smart algorithm that makes junior selection fair: it keeps track of every child's games across the season and suggests a fair team each week, while the coach keeps the final say.

Winter is a good time to try it without match-day pressure. See how it works, or check pricing: one price per club by number of teams, from £9 to £29 a month, with a 30-day free trial.

FAQ

When should a cricket club start preparing for the new season?

Winter is ideal. Review last season in the autumn, agree policies over the winter, and test your routine in March or early April before fixtures begin.

What should a cricket club selection policy include?

How availability is collected and by when, what happens if someone doesn't reply, the order sides pick in on shared match days, rules for playing up or down, and how junior selection is kept fair.

How can we make junior selection fairer next season?

Decide your approach before the season, share it with parents, and keep an accurate record of who played each match so decisions are based on facts rather than memory.

Do we need new software to do this?

No. Everything in this checklist can be done with clear rules and simple records. Tools can save volunteers time, but the habits matter most.