NATIONAL YOUTH PROGRAMMES

All Stars Cricket is the England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) entry level participation programme, aimed at providing boys and girls aged five to eight with a great first experience in cricket. 

For further information please go to allstarscricket.co.uk or if you would like to discuss the implications for your club further please contact your dedicated Sussex Cricket Foundation Territory Manager.

Key Features:

• A perfect first experience of cricket for all boys and girls aged 5-8 years-old
• Eight 60-minute sessions, held over 8 weeks
• All Stars Cricket kit bag
• Valuable time with your kids – mums and dads are encouraged to take part too
• Safe and fully accredited

Dynamos Cricket provides a fantastic next step for all those graduating from All Stars Cricket and the perfect introduction for all 8-11 year-olds new to the sport!

Complementing junior cricket, Dynamos provides children with a more social offer focused on developing fundamental movement skills and applying them in an exciting game of countdown cricket.

We know how important it is to look like the heroes of the game, so every child who registers will receive their very own Dynamos Cricket New Balance t-shirt, personalised with their name and number.

For further information please go to dynamoscricket.co.uk or if you would like to discuss the implications for your club further please contact your dedicated Sussex Cricket Foundation Territory Manager.

Key features:

• Children will use soft balls and light wooden bats
• Minimum of six 60-90 minute sessions
• Introduction to game play through a countdown cricket match
• New Balance personalised t-shirt with name and number
• Valuable time with your kids – mums and dads are encouraged to take part too
• Complementary digital app experience
• Exclusive access to Topps Cricket Attax cards
• Safe and fully accredited

Thursday 29th January

• Club Virtual Kick-Off Meeting at 6:30pm (hosted by the ECB)

30th January - 28th February

• Club Administration & programme setup

1st March - 11th March

• Club-Led Priority Booking Window

2nd March

• Mission Activate: Inspire & Inform Call (hosted by SCF)

12th March - 18th March

• National Priority Booking Window

19th March

• National Launch

8th May onwards

• Programme delivery commences

Club Virtual Kick-Off Meeting

Your key club contact(s) should have received details from ECB already via email and we highly recommend attending, both for new and returning centres. There are no major changes to how you’ll operate this year but some useful updates around activities, digital platforms and new marketing resources for local use. 

Please put this in your diaries for 6:30pm on Thursday 29th January if you haven’t already - the Teams Meeting link for the meeting will be available in the ECB email.

ClubSpark Organisation 

As we started the new year, all organisation checklists within Club Spark were reset and will therefore need completing, before your programmes can open for booking. You will need to access the https://ecb.clubspark.uk/admin platform and complete the compliance elements, I recommend making a start on this as soon as you can as we must approve them one at a time by viewing your documents.

Compliance Checklist Requirements

• Accept the T&Cs: Required for 2026 delivery
• Payment Account: Connect a payment account (existing Stripe accounts are unaffected and should already be 'green')
• Safe Hands Certificate: Submit for the Club Safeguarding Officer.
• First Aid Certificate: Submit a valid certificate for a certified individual at your organisation
• Liability Insurance: Submit proof of your own policy or state that you are insured on the central policy with Howden
• Key Club Contact: Add the main individual responsible for NYP delivery. They must have a Club Spark account to access the All Stars & Dynamos Equipment Shop
• Add Activators: Existing Activators are unaffected and will already show as 'green' (see advise below for their action)
• Remove any Activators who are not returning

New in Programme Set-Up

In a bid to find out what the maximum capacity actually is for National Youth Programmes and how close we are to being ‘full’, the default max. capacity on programmes has now changed from 500 to just 48. 48 was simply chosen as it is based on 2 trained Activators, so when setting up your programmes please pay attention to this field and set your maximum capacity accurately for what you could deliver, if your programme were to fill completely.

Dynamos Cricket for Girls

2026 promises a huge summer of cricket for girls, as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup kicks off on home soil in June. As the world of cricket gears up to welcome an influx of new girls we are already expecting a record delivery year for ‘Dynamos Cricket for Girls’. It’s time to start thinking about how you’ll get your slice of the pie, so please speak with your Club Support Officer if you are considering running a programme or camp specifically for girls.

Below are step-by-step guides and video links for:

Organisation checklist (User guide | Video guide)

• How to complete your Organisation checklist user guide
• How to complete your Organisation checklist video guide

Activator checklist (User guide | Video guide)

• How to complete your Activator checklist user guide
• How to complete your Activator checklist video guide

 Programme setup (User guide | Video guide)

• How to set-up your Programme(s) user guide
• How to set-up your Programme(s) video guide

As well as these links, will also find a step-by-step guidance documents attached to support you. Please utilise this in the first instance.

For any additional support:

West – Lara.Johnson@sussexcricket.co.uk

Central – Ayscha.Woods@sussexcricket.co.uk

East – Kaleigh.Pavitt@sussexcricket.co.uk

We continue to work as a team so please direct any questions or requests to your Club Support contacts.

Activators are the key ingredient to making All Stars and Dynamos Cricket happen. Thanks to each of you, more kids than ever before are able to play and fall in love with cricket. 

Activators must complete the initial training which includes;

• ECB verified DBS check
• National Programmes eLearning course
• ECB Safeguarding for Specialised Roles: Coaches & Activators eLearning course
• National Programmes Face-to-Face Training Workshop

Existing Activators must keep their qualifications up-to-date to remain fully qualified.

More information & support is available to new and existing Activators via the new ECB Cricket Activators webspace, please follow the link below.

New Activators

On Mon 2nd Mar from 8-9pm we will be hosting a virtual inspiration and information session called Mission Activate. This aims to help you recruit new Activators, encouraging that all-important ‘yes’ from people who are interested but perhaps cautious. Please share this Mission Activate Form with anyone who might like to attend, or who you think would make a brilliant Activator. Filling out the form will ensure that they receive reminders and a link to join the call. This call aims to help potential Activators make an informed decision, leave them wanting to get involved and feeling confident to jump in. We plan to do this by:

• Showing them what is provided to make Activating easy
• breaking down any ideas that they need cricket experience or expertise
• making clear what their commitment would entail

If you need help starting those conversations, there are some great tips on the Activator Webspace.

Once new Activators are signed up, we plan to host 3 face-to-face Activator training sessions for them and are looking for cricket clubs to host (ideally in April), please complete Hosting Activator Training Form if your club is interested in hosting. We will require some indoor space for the theory and group discussion modules, as well as some outfield space for running practical activities, these could be evenings or weekends. Training dates will be confirmed as soon as possible and will then be bookable via Activator Checklists. Please add them to Club Spark sooner if you can, this allows them time to complete the online elements during Feb and Mar.

Returning Activators

As well as your Club Checklists being renewed, returning Activators will also need to log in and update their own checklists, please encourage them to do this soon. We are also planning to offer some CPD for returning Activators covering one or multiple of the below subjects. Please help us to plan what it is that you most need, by completing this CPD Expression of Interest Form and sharing it with all your returning Activators.

• Behaviour Management
• Parent Engagement
• Online Resources/Platforms & Social Media
• SEND Inclusion (Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities)

We are also looking for clubs to host these sessions so please complete the Hosting Activator Training form if you’d like to do this.

TBC - please check this page for details in the coming weeks

If you're interested in finding out more about one of these programmes or signing your child up for a local centre in 2026 please visit the ECB website via ecb.co.uk/play.

For all general queries please contact the national ECB help desks - allstarscricket@ecb.co.uk or dynamoscricket@ecb.co.uk.