Announcement · 2026/27
CJCA Playing Conditions – Changes and Reinforcements for the 2026-27 Season
Source: Grade-and-Playing-Conditions-changes-202627-season.pdf, pages 1–6. Text extracted from the PDF's text layer; the POD rotation diagram on page 5 is included as an image with a transcription.
The CJCA’s summary of changes to playing conditions for 2026/27, as published. The CJCA marks some changes as SIGNIFICANT CHANGE.
Applies to lines at the start of each section are added by the editor to show which grades the section affects; everything else is the CJCA text as published. Rules for Year 5 and Year 6 are compared against this announcement in the Year 5 Hardball “what’s changed” page.
Rules: Christchurch Junior Cricket Association (CJCA). Reformatted as coaching notes; see the source PDF for the official wording.
Grace Period Cricket
Applies to: Year 7 & 8 morning and afternoon grades, Girls Division 3, Year 6 after Christmas.
Grades effected - Year 7 and 8 Morning and Afternoon grades, Division 3 Girls and Year 6 after Christmas
Number of Overs change – YEAR 7 & 8 Morning grades only – SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
Year 7 & 8 Morning grades will move to being 27 SIX ball overs due to concerns regarding games taking too long and impact following games on grounds with CJCA Premier/Youth or Adult grades in the afternoon.
These grades are designed as 9 a side grades so should 9 players play, each player can bowl 3 overs.
Batting Retirements / Grace Period Balls – SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
YEAR 7 & 8 - Batters will now retire after 25 LEGITMATE BALLS – this means that No Ball and Wides will not be counted towards either a RETIREMENT LIMIT OR a Batters GRACE PERIOD.
GIRLS DIVISION 3 & YEAR 6 POST CHRISTMAS - Batter will now retire after 15 LEGITMATE BALLS – this means that No Ball and Wides will not be counted towards either a RETIREMENT LIMIT OR a Batters GRACE PERIOD.
YEAR 6 POST CHRISTMAS - Batter will now retire after 20 LEGITMATE BALLS – this means that No Ball and Wides will not be counted towards either a RETIREMENT LIMIT OR a Batters GRACE PERIOD.
BATTERS REACHING THIS RETIREMENT LEVEL SHOULD BE RETIRED IMMEDIATELY – NOT THE END OF THE OVER AS IS THE CURRENT PROCESS.
Grace Period bonus Run increase and reduction of Grace Period for Year 7 & 8 Premier – SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
The Bowling teams who gain wickets during the Grace Period will now gain 5 Bonus Runs this applies to all grades.
Bonus runs for wickets in ALL PAIRS CRICKET will remain at 3 bonus runs. (Kiwi, Mini Mags, Year 3 & 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Pre-Christmas)
Year 7 & 8 Premier Cricket will now have a grace period of 3 balls so Batters may be dismissed after they face their 3rd ball.
NOT RETIRING BATTERS EARLY FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Coaches are NOT allowed to retire batters earlier than these Retirement limits FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE unless they are playing with more than 9 players and spreading the innings equally.
RETIRED BATTERS RETURNING
Retired (Not Out) Batters must return in order in which they retired
ADDITIONAL BATTER IN SHORT-HANDED TEAMS
Batters in teams short of the required batters for a full teams must return in order of LEAST BALLS FACED
Bowling Changes
Applies to: run-ups – Year 5/6 and Year 7 & 8 cricket; over limits – 27- and 30-over grades.
Run Up Limitations
Run Ups should be no longer than 15m in Year 7 & 8 Cricket and no longer than 12m in Year 5/6 cricket – this should be marked by a cone if necessary.
Bowlers should be coached to have a repeatable smooth run up and maintain speed through delivery and have an effective smooth follow through. Excessively long run ups slow down pace of play and are not directly related to the speed of bowling at this younger age.
Bowling Over Limits & Keepers sharing Keeping duties
- A minimum of 8 players must have bowled 3 overs each before any player can bowl a fourth over, provided the ninth player is the designated specialist wicketkeeper for that match. No bowler may bowl more than 4 overs total in a 27 or 30-over game unless agreed to by both teams. Max 5 overs per bowler. Coaches are to ensure that all team members bowl the same number of overs during the season - on an equivalent availability basis.
- No bowler may bowl a 4th over until ALL others have bowled 3
- Should wicket keeping be shared each of the players should bowl 2 overs when not wicket keeping.
- 5 overs bowled at the same end to speed up the innings. No bowler can bowl successive overs.
Fielding Changes
Applies to: all CJCA grades.
Fielding Restrictions
In all CJCA grades at least 3 players must be closer to the Batter than to the Boundary.
Participation Changes
Applies to: all non-pairs grades (Year 6 post-Christmas, Year 7 & 8, Girls Division 3, Premier grades).
Use of Pods in NON-PAIRS grades
In order to ensure that all players are able to make a meaningful contribution to a teams performance the CJCA is strongly recommending that teams adopt PODS to be used in all NON-PAIRS cricket as Pairs cricket already imbeds even participation opportunities within its current playing conditions.
Current playing conditions stress the need for all players have had an equal opportunity to display and develop their skills. Pods are designed as a Mechanism to take pressure off Coaches and parental expectations of involvement.
POD allow for groups of players to rotate week to week in Top, Middle & Bottom groupings so that players develop an appreciation for the different skills required in a game. These groupings should be established and run for a 3 game period after which they can changed so that participants get to be grouped with others.
A pre-season Webinar will be run by the CJCA that will detail the WHAT, WHY and the HOW of this system that can be implemented by Coaches and Managers.
IN SUMMARY - WHAT ARE PODS ABOUT
A coach or manager will group the players in a team into three groups – one of these groups will bat in the Top batting positions of 1 to 3 or 4 depending on how many players are being used in a match. Others will be placed in two other “Pods”
Players who bat in the Top Pod may not bowl until 50% of the overs have been bowled - this would be after 14 overs (drinks) in the new 27 over format of Year 7 & 8 morning grades play OR after 15 overs in the 30 over Year 7 & 8 Premier grade. In a 20/20 game it would be after 10 overs.
This means all the bowling in the first 50% of a team bowling innings should feature batters who are in the 2nd or 3rd batting pods with it recommended that the lowest batting Pod bowl first, as they may not get an opportunity to bat in some instances and need to make a meaningful contribution to a game.
It is recommended that the Bottom Pod in the First Rotation is the Top the following week so they are guaranteed to go no longer than one week without batting.
The diagram, as text:
| POD | Rotation/Week 1 | Rotation/Week 2 | Rotation/Week 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| POD 1 | Bat Top Week 1 – Bowl after 50% of Overs Week 1 | Bat after Pod 3 Week 2 – Bowl after Pod 2 Week 2 | Bat Bottom Week 3 – Bowl 1st Week 3 |
| POD 2 | Bat after Pod 1 Week 1 – Bowl after Pod 3 Week 1 | Bat Bottom Week 2 – Bowl 1st Week 2 | Bat Top Week 3 – Bowl after 50% of overs Week 3 |
| POD 3 | Bat bottom Week 1 – Bowl 1st Week 1 | Bat Top Week 2 – Bowl after 50% of overs Week 2 | Bat after Pod 2 Week 3 – Bowl after Pod 1 Week 3 |
After rotation complete: RESET PODS – MIX PLAYERS UP.
No Changes to Current Playing Conditions
Applies to: grades with hits off tees (including Year 5 Hardball and Super 8s); byes rules for all grades.
ONLY RUN OUTS FROM HITS OFF TEES
In grades with HITS OFF TEES FOLLWING Wides/No Balls the only form of dismissal remains RUN OUTS – CATCHES DO NOT COUNT
Fielders should be focused on stopping balls and attempting Run outs
BYES
It is important that Wicketkeeping skills are developed – the current rules will remain in place.
THERE SHOULD BE NO BYES OR OVERTHROWS IN KIWI GRADE
In YEARS 3 AND 4 & Mini Mags Byes and overthrows should be limited to ONE only taken in these grades. We want to encourage good practices by the fielding team. This includes those keeping move and stop legitimate balls that are not hit, and the coaches should encourage good throws / the use of relay throwing to ensure the ball is returned in good time.
Byes should not be run when a Free Hit has been signalled so the same Batter remains on-strike to take the Free Hot off the Tee
FULL Byes and Overthrows are to be playing in all other grades – should bowlers be quick (in a junior sense) - the Fielding team may need to have a Fine Leg for Fine “Third” or even Backstop if a Keeper is unable to stop a ball – this is the trade off for having a faster bowler and creates gaps in the Field for Batters so the development of Wicket Keeping is important - as is a focus on controlled accurate bowling rather than wides that test a Wicketkeepers range.
Similiarly Fielding teams should be coached on the importance of multiple fielders backing up throws at both the Keepers and Bowlers end and Keepers and Bowlers getting to stumps to provide an increased target for Fielders in addition to the Stumps.
Possible errors or inconsistencies
- Year 6 post-Christmas retirement limit is given twice with different numbers: 15 legitimate balls (grouped with Girls Division 3) and 20 legitimate balls. The 2026/27 Year 6 post-Christmas rules say 20.
- Year 5/6 run-ups: this announcement says no longer than 12 m, but the 2026/27 Year 5 rules still say a maximum of 10 m.
- Typos: “Grades effected” (affected); “LEGITMATE” (legitimate); “FOLLWING” (following); “take the Free Hot off the Tee” (Hit); “Similiarly” (Similarly); “for a full teams”; “after which they can changed”.