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ECB Indoor Cricket has dedicated the following pages to a variety of photos,info,and lots more trivia for the Indoor Cricket "Anorak!"

If you have any articles you think may be of interest to other Indoor Cricketers, please let the ECBIC know, who will display here....
 

History of Indoor Cricket in the U.K. 

8-a-side Indoor Cricket arrived in the UK in 1984 from Australia. The game had originated from there in 1978 and soon exploded right across Australia and neighbouring New Zealand.

Sheffield was the first centre to open in England followed by a centre in Nottingham that the Nott’s & England cricketer Derek Randall who had seen these centres in operation in Australia.

Another England cricketer Barry Wood opened a centre in Warrington, Lancashire players Harry Pilling & Jack Simmons followed by opening Bowlers in Manchester and Kent’s Derek Underwood then launched his company on the stock market specifically to concentrate on opening stadiums in the Kent area.

In its heyday Indoor Cricket in the late 80’s to early 90’s boasted up to 60 centres in England & Wales.

In 1986 the U.K. Indoor Cricket Federation (U.K.I.C.F.) was formed to organise the sport and to be recognised as the governing body of the game in this country. A Board of Directors was formed to administer the sport and generally these posts were filled by directors of stadiums themselves/managers of those centres or by business men with their own companies outside of the game. This body was recognised internationally as the governing body of the game in the UK by the WICF (World Indoor Cricket Federation) and in 1990 the first Indoor International Test Series involving England took place here against Australia in the sponsored Manulife Insurance Test Series for men.

Domestically the British Open was launched in 1986 and involved 26 stadiums at that time. This a tournament that traditionally opens the National League Season each year where teams compete in a 3 day event on a knock-out basis to win the trophy. This competition is still running today and this will be the 26th year of running the event.

The National League has also been running since 1986 and is played on a league basis through the winter months, generally November through to March. It has had various formats in its time from being run on a regional division basis because it had the number of teams to do that, on a home & away basis between the stadiums all over the country or as it is now on a carnival basis involving all the grades competing at a particular stadium to compete on a fixtured day.

Competition in those days had only the Men & Women’s competitions but through the natural evolution of the sport more age groups have been introduced and players now play in the following grades at Regional, National & International level:

Men’s, Women’s, U’19 Boys, U’19 Girls, Over 35s Men (Masters) and Over 45s Men (Seniors).

At stadium level most centres run between 40 & 80 adult men’s club sides committed to playing league each week from September – April each year plus further league competition involving mixed, junior cricket & school competitions. There is always a lot of social bookings arranged by the corporate sector and work place challenges by people who just fancy the ‘one-off’ game by just picking up a bat and ball to have a bit of fun and “letting off steam”.

The centres themselves in the UK vary from a 2 court facility to a 4 court stadium and most are multi-sport facilities generally organising leagues for Indoor 5-a-side Football & Indoor Netball as well as cricket.

ECBIC is a founder member of the WICF (World Indoor Cricket Federation) and competes against other nations in International Test Series, Tournaments and World Cups for all the grades mentioned above. 2009 was the 7th World Cup for Men and the 6th World Cup for Women which were held in Brisbane, Australia. The U’19 Boys & Girls World Series will also be played alongside this event.

 

Countries that have competed in Internationals are:

• Australia
• England
• France
• Guernsey
• India
• Namibia
• New Zealand
• Pakistan
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Zimbabwe 

 

THE FOLLOWING CENTRES HAVE PLAYED NATIONAL LEAGUE CRICKET AND ARE/WERE MEMBERS OF INDOOR CRICKET IN THE U.K. UNDER ; UKICF, BICA, EICA AND ECBIC.

IF YOU ARE AWARE OF ANY OTHERS, PLEASE LET THE ECBIC KNOW AND WE WILL DISPLAY THEM HERE...

 

 

A;
Aston Villa (Stumps)
Aston Leisure (Wheelers Birmingham).

B;
Birmingham (Strikers)
Bolton
Beckenham
Bradford
Bristol (1)
Bristol (Action Sports)
Beckton (Docklands)

 C;
Canary Wharf
Cradley Heath (1)
Cradley Heath (Ballpark)
Coventry
Coventry Connexion
Canterbury

D;
Dartford
Derby

E;
Eastliegh
Edmonton

F;
Fareham

G;
Gillingham (1)
Gillingham 442
Guernsey (Channel Islands)

H;
Hall Green
Hounslow
Hull
Hastings

I;
Ipswich

L;

Leeds
Liverpool

Liverpool (2)
Lancing (Susex Starz)
Leicester

M;
Maldon
Manchester
Milton Keynes
Maidstone

N;
Nottingham
Nottingham South

P;
Peterborough

R;
Rochdale
Rochester
Redditch

S;
Solihull
Stevenage
Sheffield
Swansea
Stockport

T;
Tottenham
Totten

 W;

Warrington
Wolverhampton
Worcester
Walsall
Wellingborough (1)
Wellingborough (Wasps)
Wellingborough (3)

OTHER "NOMADIC" SIDES TO PLAY NATIONAL LEAGUE INC

• Aquachain London (Masters)
• England u.19 Boys Dev.
• England u.19 Girls Dev.
• England Masters (Over 35)
• Rushden Rockets (Men)
• Southern Misfits (Ladies)
• Welsh Dragons Ladies
• Kwa zulu canary Wharf (Men)