About Green Shield

The AW Green Shield is an U/16s competition in which the best young cricketers in the area get their first taste of grade cricket. Although they are still playing ‘age-group’ cricket, the competition itself is part of the Premier Cricket set-up and contributes to the Club Championship. Consequently, it is seen as the pinnacle of a young cricketer’s junior career. The competition is considered by many to be the toughest 16s competition in the world and is a breeding ground for future test cricketers.

The competition involves all twenty grade clubs and spans an intense two months. Seven home and away games are played and then the top 8 teams go through to the qualifying finals in which half the teams are knocked out. The remaining teams progress to the semi finals and one win results in a chance to come away with the AW Green Shield in the final. The matches themselves are one-day fixtures in which each innings lasts for 50 overs which means that 100 overs are played in a day (more than a day’s play of test cricket). Also, the players get the opportunity to play on the first grade grounds of the grade competition, some of which are first class grounds.

Manly last got to the Grand Final in the season of 2019/20 and last won the premiership in the season of 1991/92.