Twenty-two sides from NSW and Queensland will play in the 26th annual Lismore District Under 12 Junior Cricket Carnival held across Lismore and Casino next month.

The children representing the three Far North Coast Cricket Academy teams received their caps from their parents in a ceremony at Tintenbar-East Ballina Cricket Club yesterday.

The carnival, with the first matches on Tuesday, January 7, has seen a plethora of children go on to represent their country: Australian opener David Warner, Australian pace bowler Josh Hazlewood, Australian batsman Usman Kwahaja, Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques, former Australian all-rounder John Hastings and the late Australian batsman Phillip Hughes are just players who represented their region in the Lismore District Under 12 Junior Cricket Carnival.

Bernardine Cooper, who has been the carnival's co-ordinator for the past five years, has asked for a break and this year's event will be run by Marist Brothers Cricket Club on behalf of the Lismore District Junior Cricket Association.

"Berni had sent out the team invitations and has been extremely helpful in passing the torch to us, as has her husband Barry," said Marist Brothers Cricket Club President Glen Lees, who is the Carnival Coordinator. Far North Coast Cricket Junior Cricket Council's official Jacob Graham is Carnival Manager.

"We hope we can live up to the high standard that Berni, Barry and the rest of the previous volunteers have set."

North Shore Junior Cricket Association, from Sydney, has won the carnival for the past three years and five times since 2013. They return to try and keep their title and will compete against junior cricket associations from Armidale, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Mid North Coast, North Coast, North West Sydney Hurricanes, Parramatta, Penrith, Central Coast, Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Inner West Harbour, Lake Macquarie, Manly, Newcastle, South Eastern, South East Queensland Stormers and Tamworth. Three sides representing the Far North Coast Cricket Academy are the FNC Renegades, FNC Sixers, FNC Thunder.

Far North Coast Renegades will be Zac Bennett, Dominic Crotty, Angus Graham, Rylan Harris, Harrison Hunt, Finn McKenzie, Zara Morris, Thomas Relph, Bruce Savage, Braithan Smith, Zachariah Roberts and Matt Rossington. Far North Coast Sixes will be Eden Geyer, Declan Enright, Joe Parsons (captain), Charlie McAllister, Kalon Davis, Bailey Thompson, Pierce Bull, Hugo Portus, Eden Kane, Oliver Condon, Harry Bull and Tasman Criss and Far North Coast Thunder are Riley Weir, Lachlan Barnes, Blake Perkins, Brody Felton, Kai Dalli (captain), Mathew Keys, Harry Kershler, James Rosser, Cameron O'Donnell, Harvey Moore, Ben George and Emily Hosking.

The event, which is co-organised by Lismore City Council and Lismore Workers Club, will be run on turf and synthetic pitches. The turf wickets being used are Oakes Oval, Heaps Oval, Mortimer Oval (Rec 8 ), Nesbitt Park and Nielson Park, all in Lismore, and Queen Elizabeth Oval 2 & Queen Elizabeth 5 in Casino. The synthetic pitches being used are Sam Trimble Oval, Hepburn Park, Roder Oval (Rec 9), Davidson Oval (Rec 10), Arthur Park, McKenzie Park, Adam Gilchrist, Marie Lee, Lyn Larsen and Woodlawn.