U12s / U13s - a look ahead to the 2026 season

Well, this is the season that it all gets real (for the U12s anyway – it was already so for the U13s), as all matches will be Twenty20, i.e. if you’re out, you’re out.  No more pairs cricket, our strength for so long.

The U12s (as U11s) won the High Peak pairs league last season, continuing the trend (I think that makes it five times in four years across these two age groups), getting into Division 1 of the South Manchester league (by virtue of finishing top of their group), where they struggled but improved, and the semi-final of the High Peak summer competition, where they met a very strong team.  Their win-loss record (ignoring defaults) was 25-14.

The U13s (as U12s), meanwhile, started slowly but then won 9 matches on the trot, before a combination of fixture weariness and strong opposition brought that to a close.  They got to the semi-final of both the John North U12 cup and the High Peak league, and got into the third division of the South Manchester league.  Their win-loss record (again, ignoring defaults) was 14-10, largely while playing up a year.

The plan for this season is going to largely mirror what we did two years ago, which is to split the two-year group into two broadly similar strength High Peak league squads (Magic and Phoenix), whilst putting the best of both age groups into the (stronger) South Manchester and Cheshire leagues.

The U12s have two competitions of their very own – a small, new-for-this-year South Manchester league and the John North U12 cup.

We already have 41 matches scheduled, and that’s without progression to the next phase of the South Manchester league (which is inevitable, one way or another), or any knock-out progression, or summer competitions.  It’s going to be interesting!