{"id":77589,"date":"2023-11-22T10:45:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T10:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/22\/the-spin-fun-engaging-quick-indoor-cricket-could-be-due-for-a-global-revival\/"},"modified":"2023-11-22T10:45:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T10:45:45","slug":"the-spin-fun-engaging-quick-indoor-cricket-could-be-due-for-a-global-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/22\/the-spin-fun-engaging-quick-indoor-cricket-could-be-due-for-a-global-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spin | \u2018Fun, engaging, quick\u2019: indoor cricket could be due for a global revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I<\/span>f you love cricket but hate the idea of winter nets \u2013 the waiting in line, the chilliness, the squeaky-trainered quiet \u2013 then perhaps an energetic game of indoor cricket might appeal. But trying to get your head around the different formats of the game and how it exists in the UK is like navigating your way through a particularly tangled bag of damp knitting.<\/p>\n

Historically, there are two forms of indoor cricket. The first is played in a general sports hall, with the idea of roughly recreating outdoor cricket \u2013 but inside. Sometimes matting is laid down but there are no specific laws and no particular formats, with the game often springing up on an ad-hoc basis. The second is \u201cofficial\u201d indoor cricket, played with a tension netted court and a pitch 30 metres long, 10-12 metres wide and 4-5 metres high \u2013 a format played especially in Australia, but also big in New Zealand and South Africa, with international contests and a World Cup.<\/p>\n

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The England and Wales Cricket<\/a> Board runs two competitions: a girls\u2019 indoor competition for under-13s and under-15s, and an Indoor National Club Championship. Both fall within the general sports hall category.<\/p>\n

The ECB took over the running of the girls\u2019 competition from the Lady Taverners. It is open to all schools, and is played from January through to Easter. The county winners compete in five regional venues across the country, then the five regional winners play at Lord\u2019s in the national finals in the week before May half-term.<\/p>\n

There has been a generous increase in the number of schools entering, with 1,903 signing on the dotted line for 2024, an increase of 400 since 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really encouraging,\u201d says Sue Laister, the ECB\u2019s competitions manager for the women and girls\u2019 game. \u201cAs well as being an easy game to play, the fact that it is eight overs a side means that it can be played within 45 minutes to an hour, which is the usual length of a school lesson or a lunchtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is easier for schools to organise compared to outdoor cricket, as schools usually have access to a gym or sports hall, and you need less specialised equipment.\u201d The teams use a plastic bat and there is one innings, no lbws, two overs maximum per bowler, and players have to retire once they reach 15 \u2013 though if the rest of the team are out they can bat again.<\/p>\n

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<\/svg><\/span>Action from the 2023 Girls U13 Schools Cricket Finals at Lord\u2019s indoor cricket centre in May.<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Williams Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is a really good introduction to the game,\u201d says Laister. \u201cEveryone gets involved, it\u2019s a fun, engaging, quick format.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approximately 500 teams around the country then play in the ECB-run Indoor National Club Championship. The winners of each county competition play in a regional final, with a national final in March, again at Lord\u2019s. This is a six-a-side competition, with 12 overs a side (maximum three overs per bowler) and matches are completed in around an hour.<\/p>\n

Separate from that are the Bucs (British Universities and Colleges Sport) indoor cricket leagues, which are very popular, partly due to the nature of university terms, which leave little time for outdoor university cricket in the summer. In fact, the University of Kent won the ECB\u2019s Indoor National Club Championship in 2023, beating the University of Sheffield in the final.<\/p>\n

Jen Barden is the cricket development manager for the Lancashire Foundation. She remembers indoor cricket carrying on through the winter 20 years ago and recognises that there is a bit of a gap in provision now, but there is a reason for that: \u201cIt is a high-cost activity. In an hour only 16 kids will have taken part and you need to hire a venue and have an umpire as well.\u201d Lancashire don\u2019t generally run competitions but they are happy to lend advice and equipment to anyone who wants to. \u201cIt depends a bit on who has the bug in a particular area.\u201d Barden remembers a purpose-built tension net indoor cricket centre in Rochdale, \u201cbut now the nearest one is in Birmingham\u201d.<\/p>\n

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<\/svg><\/span>Action from an England v Australia 21 and under match at the 2017 Indoor Cricket World Cup.<\/span> Photograph: Action Indoor Cricket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Which brings us to Action Indoor Cricket England and its chairman, Duncan Norris. Norris is the England delegate to the World Indoor Cricket Federation, and Action Indoor Cricket, based in Birmingham, is in charge of domestic, national and international teams and tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 80s and 90 there were over 60 cricket centres with tension nets and there was huge participation,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople like Mike Gatting and Asif Din all started out playing the format as an additional form. Unfortunately, the commercial model is very tricky to make work in this country with high rates and the activity being very seasonal. So gradually most of those centres closed.\u201d There are now only four tension net centres left in the country \u2013 all Midlands based \u2013 in Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham.<\/p>\n

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