Junior cricket rules: bowling limits, helmets and fielding distances, board by board.

The rules below apply only within each board's own cricket, and leagues and competitions can add their own. The current document from the board and competition concerned is always the authority. Concussion rules for young players are on concussion rules by board.

Fast-bowling limits

England and Wales: ECB Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations (2025), mandatory

The ECB issued new Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations for the 2025 season. We read the regulation text from a copy reproduced in a Cornwall cricket handbook (file dated 1 April 2025), not from the ECB's own file. The fast-bowling regulation applies to all players aged 19 or under in hardball cricket, except academy and EPP players, who follow talent-pathway protocols; it does not apply to softball cricket. The ECB labels these maximums its "revised limits 2025":

Other points in the same regulations:

• After a spell, a fast bowler may not bowl again from either end until as many overs as the spell lasted have been bowled from the same end; a break in play of 40 minutes or more allows a new spell.
• The limits follow the player's own age, not the age group of the match, so a 13-year-old in an under-15 match follows the 13-year-old limits.
• Anyone who bowls a single ball at high intensity counts as a fast bowler.
• Deliveries in training at or near match intensity count towards the limits.

Australia: Cricket Australia Junior Pace Bowling Workload Guidelines (2026), guidelines

Cricket Australia publishes Community Cricket Junior Pace Bowling Workload Guidelines; the current file is dated April 2026 in its web address. CA says they are guidelines, not regulations, and that they cover pace bowlers only. They set two short rules:

• Under 17, the "1, 3, 5 rule": at least one rest day after a bowling day, no more than three bowling days a week (matches and training), and no more than five overs in a spell.
• Ages 17 to 19, the "2, 4, 6 rule": no more than two bowling days in a row, four bowling days a week and six overs in a spell.

CA also recommends a gradual build-up of bowling before the season: 2 weeks for under-13s, 4 weeks for ages 13 to 15, 6 weeks for 15 to 17 and 8 weeks for 17 to 19. It identifies teenage pace bowlers as the group at highest risk of lumbar bone stress injury.

Ireland: Cricket Ireland Young Cricketer Directives (2020), directives

Cricket Ireland's Young Cricketer Directives 2020 apply to all competitions under its auspices, to boys and girls, by the player's age on 1 September of the preceding year rather than the age group of the match. CI defines a fast bowler as one to whom a wicketkeeper of the same age would normally stand back, with the umpire having the final say.

CI also recommends no more than four bowling days in any seven, and no more than two in a row.

New Zealand

No current national NZC junior fast-bowling workload guideline was found, so none is given here.

The same player under three boards

The limits differ. For a 14-year-old, the ECB's mandatory limit is 5 overs a spell and 12 a day (2025), CA's guideline is 5 a spell and 12 a match day for ages 13 to 15 (2026), and Cricket Ireland's directive is 6 a spell and 12 a day (2020). For a 16 or 17-year-old the figures are ECB 6 and 15, CA 5 and 16, and CI 7 and 18. Each is that board's own rule.

Helmets for young players

• ECB consent rule. Written parental or guardian consent for a junior not to wear a helmet is not accepted. Exceptional cases go to the ECB with supporting evidence, and the player may not take part in the covered activities until the ECB confirms. The ECB's earlier guidance with the PCA, dated 24 August 2016, already said that no parental consent to not wearing a head protector should be accepted.
• Cricket Australia. No national CA rule making helmets mandatory for junior community cricketers was found. CA says it has strongly recommended BS 7928:2013 helmets in community cricket since 2019 for batting, keeping up to the stumps and fielding, and now also strongly recommends a neck protector.
• NZC representative cricket. NZC's helmet policy is expected to be followed by major association representative teams in its national tournaments from under-17 upward.

Minimum fielding distances

The ECB's 2025 regulations set minimum distances from the striking batter for all under-18s, in hardball and softball cricket, even when the fielder is wearing protective equipment. Distances are measured from the batter's position on the popping crease along a middle-stump line, and do not apply to fielders behind the wicketkeeper on the off side.

The row for players aged 9 or younger in the ECB table is ambiguous in the copy we read; it appears to be 11 yards but is unconfirmed. CI's distances also exclude positions behind the wicket on the off side and apply even when a head protector is worn. CI's directives require umpires to stop play when they are not followed and not to let the match continue if the breach persists.

Juniors in open-age cricket (ECB)

Under the ECB's 2025 regulations, juniors may not play open-age cricket until age 12. There is a narrow exception for some 11-year-olds in school year 7 who are selected for county or sub-county squads, with written approval from the pathway lead and a parent. All under-18s in open-age cricket need written parental consent.