Our Pathway Programme

Our Pathway is an accessible and structured talent development programme that provides an appropriate and progressive developmental journey for girls and boys between 9 and 18 years of age. Our Pathway is for individuals aspiring to play representative age group cricket for Oxfordshire and is designed to provide appropriate and progressive transitions between ages and stages of development, targeting longitudinal development to grow a strong and sustainable talent pool.

Additional information can be found at https://www.oxfordshire.cricket/performance/pathway/. Please note that some of this information may be outdated.

Please also make reference to our FAQ documents below;

Early Engagement – Under 10 to Under 12 – FAQ’s

County Age Group – Under 13 to Under 18 – FAQ’s

We hope that this information will provide an idea of what involvement in our pathway programme will entail. Further information on our pathway programme in 2025-26 will be provided to nominated players closer to the time.

Pathway Player Recruitment

The Pathway is underpinned by a player identification and recruitment system that assists our search for high-potential players and the transitioning of players from Clubs, Schools and the wider cricket community into the Pathway. 

To ensure that our Pathway remains accessible and inclusive for both Girls and Boys, we remain open to receiving player recommendations via our nomination process. We welcome the nomination of eligible players who fulfil at least one of the talent identification criteria below.

• A performing player whose current performances within the season have been above average, or significantly above their peers.

• A high-potential player with the capacity or potential to perform at a more advanced stage of development and level of competition within our pathway programme.

• A player who has a standout strength or point of difference within a specific skill discipline.

Player nominations can be submitted by any individual and we ask the following information is read and understood before nominating a player;

• Players who were deselected from the Pathway at Phase 1 in 2024-2025 will need to be nominated once again.

• Players who participated in Phase 2 & 3 in 2024-2025 will automatically be invited to rejoin the pathway in the forthcoming year. Please click HERE for a summary of all the players that will be automatically invited – they will not need to be re-nominated.

• To qualify for Oxfordshire a player must ordinarily either have been born in Oxfordshire, live in Oxfordshire, play club cricket in Oxfordshire, go to school in Oxfordshire or have represented Oxfordshire at County Age Group level the previous programme year.

• Nominated players (both Girls & Boys) must be born between 01/09/2007 and 31/08/2017.

Please refer to the below table which highlights what ages form each age group. You will note that some age groups capture multiple years;

Please submit one response for the player you are nominating using the online form provided. All nominations MUST be received by 19:00 on SUNDAY 29th JUNE 2025. We ask that you provide accurate information and that you obtain consent to share any personal data before submitting a player nomination. 

Please CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE A PLAYER.

Should you have any questions regarding the pathway player recruitment process then please contact one of the following;

• Performance Cricket Coordinator, Alex Westbury on [email protected]

• Pathway Manager, Sam Arthurs on [email protected]

• Performance Director, Matthew Barnes on [email protected] 

Nominated Players will be directly invited to attend the first phase of our 2025-26 Pathway programme. For information about when this is likely to take place, please refer to the FAQ’s attached within the email.

We thank you for supporting our search for high-potential players and look forward to receiving nominations for our Pathway.