UEL women’s indoor cricket are to make their first appearance as a team this Saturday in an away game at Christ Church Sports Centre, where they face the University of Essex and the University of Kent in the BUCS South Eastern division.
The newly established club have faced some difficulties since their inauguration in late October, with lack of players a key concern. Inability to field a team of six in their first fixture of the 2018/19 season on 27th October led to a walkover in two matches against Brunel University and Portsmouth University, resulting in points being deducted from the Blues on the BUCS South Eastern leader board.
However, as weeks passed, cricket enthusiasts have walked through the doors of the SportsDock to join cricket training.
About Indoor Cricket
Indoor cricket was thought to be established in the UK as early as the 1920’s and gained prominence in the 1960’s among players to facilitate play during the winter season. The 1970’s saw the instalment of the first indoor cricket league and the first national tournament.
Indoor cricket bears similarities with traditional outdoor cricket in the sense that both include batsmen, a bowler and fielders. However, indoor cricket has fewer players, with six players on each side. The match is played over innings of a maximum of 12 overs of six balls, with batsman retiring after reaching 25 runs.
In comparison to outdoor matches such as test cricket and first class cricket, which put no limit on the number of overs bowled by a single bowler, indoor cricket sees bowlers restricted to a maximum of three overs.
Due to reduced space, the scoring system of indoor cricket also differs from outdoor cricket, for example a ball striking the wall behind the bowler without touching the floor will result in six runs.
The Opposition
The first match of Saturday will be against University of Essex who have a notable history of playing in the BUCS South Eastern division, with the university placing sixth in the 2016/17 season and fifth in the 2017/2018 season. University of Kent also have a colourful history playing in the division, boasting two bronze medals, and a gold medal in the 2016/17 season.
The University of Essex sit comfortably in third position with three points on the leader board, with the University of Kent trailing behind in fourth position with 0 points and UEL fifth with -6 points.
The Blues sit at a disadvantage of having one less player to complete a team of six, as well as lack of playing experience. Despite this, UEL shouldn’t be overlooked as they have spent several weeks training hard under the guidance of UEL cricket coach, Arfan Akram, as well as UEL cricket club chairman, Ihtisham Mir.
