Origin and Development of Indoor Cricket
The first significant example of organised indoor cricket took place, somewhat unusually, in Germany. A tournament was held under the auspices of the Husum Cricket Club in a hall in Flensburg in the winter of 1968-69.
It wasn't until the 1970s that the game began to take shape as a codified sport. Conceived as a way of keeping cricketers involved during the winter months, various six-a-side leagues were formed throughout England in the first half of the decade, eventually leading to the first national competition held in March 1976 at the Sobell Center in Islington.
Despite the early popularity of the sport in England, a different version of indoor cricket developed by two different parties in Perth, Western Australia in the late 1970s evolved into the sport known as indoor cricket today. Against the backdrop of the upheaval in the conventional game caused by World Series Cricket, torrential rain and a desire to keep their charges active led cricket school administrators Dennis Lillee and Graeme Monaghan to set up netted arenas indoors. Concurrently, entrepreneurs Paul Hanna and Michael Jones began creating an eight-a-side game that eventually led to the nationwide franchise known as Indoor Cricket Arenas (ICA). It was not long before hundreds of ICA-branded stadiums were set up throughout Australia, leading to the first national championships held in 1984 at a time where over 200,000 people were estimated to be participating in the sport. The sport underwent several organisational changes, most notably in Australia and in South Africa (where competing organisations fought for control of the sport), but the game has changed little since that time and has risen in popularity in several nations. Under the auspices of the World Indoor Cricket Federation the sport has reached a point where is played according to the same standard rules in major competitions throughout the world.
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