Selection policy

The Board of Directors has approved a new Selection Policy, effective January 24, 2025.

  CRICKET NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR – SELECTION POLICY 

1. Preface

This document will outline the Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador provincial team selection policy. This includes the following: 

• Objective and scope of the selection policy 
• Criteria to establish the Selection Committee 
• The role of the Selection Committee 
• Criteria and process for selecting the provincial team
• Criteria and process for selecting players to participate in High-Performance coaching sessions
• Criteria and process for selecting players for opportunities to play or train in any other camps or leagues that many arise through Cricket Canada or any other body

The objective and scope of the selection policy

1. The objective of the selection policy is to create a transparent and structured framework to select the strongest and most balanced squad of players to represent NL in provincial tournaments. 
2. The scope of the policy is limited to selecting players for provincial representation across various inter-provincial tournaments.
3. After the squad is selected for a tournament, the actual team playing in the tournament games is selected by the captain, coach, and vice-captain. 
4. The selection committee will consist of the coach and captain, plus three members appointed by the Cricket NL board based on the guidelines included in this document (Section C).
5. Selectors will serve for a period of 2 years with at least 50% of the committee members retained each year for consistency and player development/familiarity purposes. 
6. The provincial coach shall be appointed before the captain and selection committee are appointed.
7. The provincial captain should be appointed by the board before, or at the same time as, the members of the selection committee.
8. As per the organization’s by-laws, the President is an ex-officio member of all committees. However, they have no vote in selection issues. 
9. The committee will select one of their members to be chair of the committee. This should not be the captain or coach.
10. The chair is responsible for:
11. • organizing and chairing meetings of the committee; 
    • communicating with the board; 
    • monitoring selectors’ attendance at tryouts and practice sessions; 
    • informing the board if a selector is unable to commit to the selection process.
    • Breaking any ties in voting.
    • Justifying player selection decisions as required, including explaining to players why they were not selected.
12. At the discretion of the committee chair, the committee may add additional non-voting members. This may be useful if the committee needs additional specific knowledge or guidance.

Guidelines in establishing the Selection Committee 

The Cricket NL board will use the following criteria to establish the Selection Committee:

1. Preference will be given to candidates who have played club or higher-level cricket for 5 years or more.
2. Preference will be given to candidates who  participated in at least one inter-provincial tournament in Canada as player or coach. 
3. The selection committee should show a balance of representatives from the member clubs, with no more than one member from any one club.
4. Candidates must be aware of the skills and talent of the top Cricket NL players available for selection.
5. Candidates must be willing and able to commit the time to monitoring of potential players in matches, and attend practices and try-outs.
6. Candidates should display leadership and communications skills. 
7. Formal coach training would be an asset. 
8. Players wanting to be considered for selection may not be considered for the committee.
9. To ensure maximum time to scout players, the committee should be in place before the second week of matches.

The board may seek applications through an open call to members, and/or solicit applications directly from those they believe to be well-qualified for the task. The board has discretion to overrule these guidelines if suitable candidates cannot be found. However, the chair of the selection committee must not be a player who wants to be considered for selection.

The role of the Selection Committee 

The role of the selection committee will be to:

1. Analyze, shortlist and select players to represent Cricket NL across various provincial tournaments;
2. Recommend players for national tournaments and camps;
3. Set guidelines and monitor players for cricket skills, fitness, attitude and discipline;
4. Work towards developing overall cricket in Newfoundland and Labrador by counseling and mentoring Cricket NL players;
5. Select the Vice-Captain once the final squad is selected;
6. Communicate the selection of players as required;
7. Liaise with the Cricket NL board about any selection issues that may arise. 

Criteria and Process for selecting the Provincial Team

Criteria for selection: 

1. The relative strength of competition where a person has competed – as well as their performances at that level – will be taken into account. 
2. Form and performance. This includes a player’s performances over several matches, potentially spanning several seasons, and not just a single performance. For form and performance, tournaments such as Cricket NL Summer League and the Eastern T20 will be considered. However, current season form will be of the greatest significance. In the event that the current season is too new to provide a good sample of form, selectors should consider the previous season’s performances. 
3. Team balance: The squad will be selected with consideration of team balance, both in relation to the spread of batsmen and bowlers in the team – including the type of batsmen and bowlers in the team – as well as wicketkeeper/s. Also, the team will be selected based on the format (20/40 overs.) 
4. Players will be constantly monitored for fitness, attitude, discipline and commitment in addition to their skills. Players showing consistently poor attitude at the club or provincial level, as well as players who have been subject to disciplinary action for a level 3 or 4 offence (or multiple lower-level offences) in the last 12 months, will not be considered. 
5. Players should attend at least 65% of scheduled high-performance sessions, practice sessions, and practice matches/tryouts. It is understood that work and study commitments or injury may make this challenging and in such cases the committee should be informed of the reason the player cannot attend, so it can be taken into consideration. 
6. The following are the minimum expected standards. If a player demonstrates fitness levels over this minimum they will be considered in selection. 

• Endurance run of 5km in less than 27 minutes and 30 seconds. 
• Beep test score of 8.5 (of equivalent “yo-yo test”) 

It is recognized that some players may be considered a better selection for the team even if they have not fulfilled these requirements. In order to select any player that has not fulfilled these requirements the Committee must seek permission of the board. 

1. Attitude indicates a player’s thought process towards the game, their mental approach and their behavior towards others. Players will need to contribute positively to the team environment and culture. Discipline indicates behaving well and respecting the game, team-mates, opposition, the Cricket NL establishment, Cricket Canada, and all applicable laws and playing conditions. 
2. Must normally be resident in Newfoundland and Labrador
3. In order to be considered for selection, players must be normally resident in Newfoundland & Labrador and be a member in good standing of Cricket NL. 
4. No member in the selection committee can vote for their own selection in the team. Therefore they can only be selected to participate in the provincial tournament by a majority of the other members of the selection committee.
5. If trials, practice matches and/or provincial practice sessions are organized, it will be the responsibility of the player to fully cooperate and attend. Players willfully not abiding by the directives of Cricket NL shall be subject to disciplinary actions and also dropped from participating in provincial tournaments. 
6. Players should ensure that they are filling roles with their clubs that they want to fill in the provincial team. Clubs should make every effort to accommodate these wishes to benefit the provincial team. For example, if a player is being considered as an opening batsman, it would be beneficial to all involved if that player opens for their club team.

Selection Process 

The following are the guidelines for the selection process. Selectors will use these guidelines for selecting the teams to represent the province. The committee is free to add other factors depending on the needs of the team.

1. Players will be analyzed and shortlisted based on coaching sessions, drills, and match and tournament performances.
2. Players will be shortlisted and will be further monitored for skills, fitness, attitude, commitment and discipline. 
3. Depending on the weather conditions, there may be practice games that will further assist the selectors. 
4. Selectors will communicate the date the team will be announced based on the tournament dates and the start of summer league. 
5. After the team has been selected and announced, the committee may wish to add additional players. Changing of the selected squad can only be done with permission of the board. 
6. Current-season form should be the primary consideration for selection.