The make-up of action indoor cricket – high intensity, inclusive, exciting finishes – is seemingly a nice fit for club cricketer 2.0 and the ECB’s Inspiring Generations programme. But while it’s blossoming in the Midlands, the number of venues is at an all-time low. So why has the game faded in recent times when it’s flourished overseas? And could this be the time for a renaissance?

The landscape

There are two primary indoor cricket formats: action indoor cricket – the eight-a-side, soft-ball edition endorsed by the ECB, which uses a tension net – and the hard ball six-a-side sports hall version, which is more commonplace in the UK. Action, however, is the only format that has a formalised code of rules adopted globally and an international pathway from under 12s to over 50s for both males and females.

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Indoor cricket boomed in the UK in the late eighties and early nineties, but rising rent, bills and council tax, along with a lack of player availability during the summer, made it unsustainable. Around 30 action indoor cricket centres existed then – the likes of Mike Gatting, Kim Barnett and Gladstone Small would play during the winter months before their contracts prevented them – but now only five remain, in Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham, and a one-court facility in Mansfield.

Three or four have fallen in the last five years – around 3,000 London-based action indoor cricketers were left without a facility after its centre was replaced by housing – but there’s still interest in the format, with players from Essex, Manchester, Cheshire, Northants and Kent due to compete in an upcoming junior tournament.

Founded in Perth in the late seventies, action indoor cricket has blossomed in the Southern Hemisphere. The Action Indoor Cricket England (AICE) Facebook page has around 600 followers, while its Australian counterpart has 29,000. “It’s a huge part of their cricketing world and player pathway,” says Anish Patel, the vice chairman of AICE, who first played the game in Australia in 2009. “Both New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Australia truly embrace the game, juniors grow up playing both, many pros have played indoor cricket and its on the coaching syllabus. There’s a big disparity; they have over 100 centres in Australia, we have five.” While British participation is limited by comparison, the five remaining centres in the UK are performing healthily, with numbers “on the up” after the gradual decline.

“All forms of indoor cricket are fantastic for developing juniors but the tension net version is the pinnacle,” says Pete Staley, a coach for Northern Star Indoor Cricket Club’s under 13s team, three of whom have been invited to train with the action England under 12 pathway side. “It offers greater opportunities to develop skills on smaller playing areas with more fielders. Playing under standardised rules with no local variations also helps. Each facet of the game can be honed but the biggest improvement I have seen in my players is fielding, running between the wickets and rotating the strike.”

Nick Reeves, who captains Harpenden CC’s indoor team, says there is also still value in the sports hall version. “There are no cons from a technical perspective. Many players play indoor cricket with initial scepticism, but manoeuvring the ball indoors develops your ability to rotate the strike outdoors. There is real potential to grow the game through indoor cricket, which can make cricket an all-year-round sport, so it can challenge football and other winter sports that are increasingly eating into the cricketing summer. A fast-paced game, smaller teams and more exciting moments suit modern society’s sporting needs perfectly.”

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The future

The ECB’s involvement in action indoor cricket is largely restricted to assistance with safeguarding and coaching qualifications – all the centres are privately owned, which is problematic from a funding perspective – but it appears to tick many boxes for the Inspiring Generations blueprint, appeasing shortened attention spans and a modern society that demands inclusivity and accessibility. Furthermore, there’s an elite pathway and, like All Stars Cricket, the formula has been proven to work in Australia.

The ECB’s 2020-24 strategy forecasts that 88 per cent of us will live in towns and cities by 2030, with urbanised cricket and South Asian participation key components (action’s Birmingham and Leicester bases have a strong Asian representation). Indeed, the ECB opened its first indoor urban cricket centre in Leyton this summer – the first of a planned network.

According to AICE, Cricket Australia are pushing action’s case for ICC endorsement and inclusion in the Olympics, but for the UK game it’s about growing awareness. There are challenges ahead and more passionate entrepreneurs required, but with a product aligned to the demands of youngsters, this could be the perfect time for an indoor cricket resurgence.