MIDLANDS rivals North Midlands and Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire will face each other in a three team Pool 2 in this season’s National Under 20 Championship.
North Midlands will have home advantage when the sides meet in the second round of matches on January 4.
NLD will open their campaign on November 30 with a home match against Eastern Counties. North Midlands will travel to play Eastern Counties in the final pool match on January 25.
The national quarter-finals will be played on February 15 with the winners of Pool 2 hosting the runners-up from Pool 1 – comprised of Cheshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Lancashire – and the Pool 1 winners having home advantage against the runners-up from Pool 2.
In the National Under 20 Shield Staffordshire and Leicestershire have been drawn in Pool 1 alongside Durham and Warwickshire will compete in Pool 2 along with Oxford University, Oxfordshire and Somerset.
Leicestershire will begin their campaign with a trip to Durham on November 9 and then host Leicestershire on November 30. Staffordshire will have home advantage against Durham in the final pool match on January 4.
Warwickshire will have a home tie against Oxford University on November 9 and then face successive away matches against Somerset (November 30) and Oxfordshire (January 4).
The national quarter-finals of the Shield will take place on January 25.
East Midlands, who competed in the National Under 20 Championship last season, have not entered either the Championship or Shield this season.
The National Under 20 Championship and National Under 20 Shield is the first stage in the selection process for this season’s England Counties Under 20 representative side.