INAUGURAL INDOOR HBL – A TEMPLATE FOR FUTURE INDOOR CRICKET

After a number of successful years of outdoor HBL, the first edition of the indoor version took place last weekend in the North County Indoor Centre.

Girls between the ages of 14 and 19 were invited to sign up and three teams took part in a round robin competition over the course of three hours.

As always, the focus of the HBL is participation and it was great to see a number of players new to the format taking part. The rules were adjusted for indoor, with teams made up of 8 players and innings lasting 60 balls. There were runs aplenty with extra runs added when you hit the ball against the wall in certain areas – if you hit the back wall on the full, you got 6!

The interest shown by the participants bodes well for an indoor competition of some sort taking place next winter:

“I was really pleased by the response of the girls,” said CL Women & Girls’ Development Officer Isobel Joyce. “I was surprised with just how much the players loved the format. The quick and easy nature of indoor, where a softer ball is used and very little equipment is needed, means that it’s very accessible. And the venue is great, too, because the team that wasn’t playing could just watch from the viewing platform along with any family that came along.”

“Plenty of the girls were already talking about wanting some sort of indoor competition in the winter, although what form that would take is still to be confirmed.” added Isobel.

“For a first effort, I think it was a huge success and shows that the appetite for cricket 12 months a year is certainly there in the women’s game."