Setting up a Competition in PlayHQ

1. Make sure you are logged into your Admin Portal for your Association. Click into Competition Management and select “+Add Competition”

2. Choose the competition type that is best suited for your competition:

• • Domestic: Matches in domestic are played at venues linked to your organisation
  • Home & Away: Matches in home and away competitions are played at venues related to the home team. This would be majority of local competitions.
  • Tournament: Tournament style competition with Round-robin played as a group phase (with or without pools) and knockout style final series. 

3. Enter competition name. Example 2022/23 Helpdesk Cricket Association Juniors.

4. Choose Format. This is important, as this will determine what information will feed into the PlayCricket website. Associations generally should be choosing either Junior or Senior, leaving representative unticked.

• • If the competition manages both Junior and Senior competitions they will need to setup 2 separate competitions.
  • If a competition does manage a rep cricket competition they can tick rep cricket for this competition, but they should be aware that any registration products setup by clubs participating in the competition will not surface to PlayCricket.

5. Competition Visibility – This will determine whether participants can see the competition publicly. CA recommends your competition remain hidden until you are satisfied you have setup the competition to how you would like, then click visible once comfortable.

6. New Player Approval: Requires players who have not registered before to be approved before being allocated to a team. It is recommended Association administrators consider the considerable overheads involved in ticking this option as Associations (or clubs if toggled on) will need to approve each individual registration before players can be picked in teams.

7. The next step is to set the default settings for each of the different match types.
Please note: You will have to complete these setups for each match type, even if your competition plans to only play in one type i.e. t20 or One-Day only competition. If this is the case, recommendation is to keep match settings as default.

In this section you will control all settings, like:

• Overs played
• Limitations to players and coaches
• Batting and bowling limitations
• Scoring settings (This is where you can implement junior formats)
• Ladder settings, customisation and visibility
• Super over configuration (One-day & T20 formats)

8. The next step is to determine some of the grade settings. These settings will sit across any grades that are created under this competition. These settings include:

• Ladder type
• Allowing which clubs to enter scores (Just their own club results or both)
• Score entry lockout times – CA Tip: It is worth Associations making it clear with clubs of the lockout times, to avoid any confusion.
• Enabling electronic scoring (CA Tip: We encourage all games to be lived scored, so make sure this is toggled on for all competitions)
• Publishing selected line-ups
• Oval percentage
• Player points
• Finals eligibility

9. Now we need to add a season. Once you have saved your Competition, it will take you back to where you started. This is where you will click on your newly created competition.

10. Click on "+New Season"

11. On this screen you will need to enter information about that season you are creating. These fields cover:

• Season Name (i.e. Summer 22/23)
• Start and End date – This will give the season the required length for all matches and finals to be played.
• Exception dates – This will create a stop for any matches being allocated to a particular timeframe. CA Tip: Use this functionality for Festive period and long weekends where matches might not be played.
• Select Venues – This is where you will need to select the grounds where your competition will be played.
• Season Visibility – This will determine whether your season is visible to the public or not. CA Tip: Leave season as hidden until you are comfortable you have set the season up to your liking.
• Age Restrictions - Specify the date of birth range for players to register to this competition for this season. Players who do not meet this criteria will be unable to register. CA Tip: It is recommended Associations provide some leeway in terms of age restrictions, This will accommodate players who may need to play in an age group below their biological age, for example players with special needs.
• Age Groups - Specify the age groups for players registering for this competition and season. Individual age groups can be removed by selecting the edit age group button. Participants within groups will be assigned an age group badge within the admin portal.

12. Now we need to add the clubs to your competition. You will now see the season appear under your competition, click on it and it will open another page. Locate “Registration” on the top ribbon menu and it will default to the “Club” submenu option. Click “Set up”

13. Here is where you can set the details around Association registration rules and invite clubs to compete in your competition.

• Invite Clubs – Search the clubs you wish to compete in your competition
• Roles available – Set what type of club roles you want to take registrations for
• Club team allocation dates – Set a timeframe in which clubs can allocate teams to certain grades of your competition.
• Set Association Registration Fees – Here you will be able to set Association fees that you would like participants to pay.
• Add Terms & Conditions
• Custom Fields – These are the custom questions created by the Association, that will appear on all club registration forms. CA Tip: These are created in a separate window. You will find it sitting next to the “Club” option on the previous page.

You are all done. It is now over to the clubs to accept the invites and start allocating their teams to grades. Once clubs have completed that, you can start looking to creating a fixture.