Welcome

to the Western NSW Junior Cricket Carnivals

The January Carnivals are a unique chance for junior cricketers to play rep standard cricket on turf pitches in a carnival atmosphere. Hosted in the beautiful town of Orange in the picturesque Central West of NSW, there is plenty on offer for the whole family.

Carnival History

The carnivals were originally hosted in Dubbo, however in 1996 they were relocated to Orange, where Quality Sporting Services (QSS) ran them for the following 16 years.

QSS was a local business operated by the late Carl Sharpe (OAM) and Beth Norrie. Carl had over 50 years association with cricket in Orange, regionally and internationally. He had a keen interest in developing young players, and identified that junior players only had rare opportunities to gain turf experience in many centres before moving into senior cricket.

Carl and Beth retired in 2011 and the Orange District Junior Cricket Association (ODJCA) was approached to ensure these unique junior carnivals continued.

The competitions held in January 2012 were the first under the new ODJCA administration.

Orange is one of the few regional centres in NSW where carnivals of such size played fully on turf can be catered for.

There have been numerous talented players who have participated over the years and who have gone on to higher honours, not the least being Trent Copeland and Pat Cummins. Orange’s own Australian representative Phoebe Litchfield had a proud record in the Carnivals. The Female Player of the Final award, presented for the first time in 2025 is named the Litchfield Medal in Phoebe’s honour.

In 2016 the carnivals welcomed the first female team, the U15 ACT Girls team, who competed in the U13 Carnival. Along with this ‘first’, we welcomed the first international team, a school team from Otago in New Zealand. We have since hosted girls teams from ACT, Sydney and the Western Girls teams and international teams from Wakatipu High School, Queenstown, NZ, and an Indian touring team.

The Carnival will soon be moving to a new and exciting phase with the anticipated 2026 finalisation of the Sir Jack Brabham Park Sporting Precinct potentially meaning six carnival games each day will be played at the same venue.