National
Origins in Australia
Indoor cricket in Australia is commonly thought to have begun in Perth in 1978. Dennis Lillee and a club cricket colleague, Graham Monoghan, started a cricket coaching school with indoor nets, progressing to games. Around the same time, businessmen Paul Hannah and Mick Jones were trialing an 8-a-side indoor cricket game at their Subiaco Cricket Arena. These two were later involved in the founding of the nationwide chain Indoor Cricket Arenas. In 1984, approximately 200,000 people were playing indoor cricket in Australia at hundreds of ICA stadiums.
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During the early days of indoor cricket in Australia, two factions of indoor cricket existed - Indoor Cricket Arenas (ICA) and the Indoor Cricket Federation (ICF). ICA was a franchise whereas the ICF was made up of privately owned centres. They both ran separately from each other meaning that each group had their own tournaments and State teams. In approximately 1989 both ICA and the ICF merged to become the Australian Indoor Cricket Federation (AICF).
The not-for-profit AICF was founded with representatives from each state and territory. In 1991, the AICF received funding from the Australian Sports Commission for the first time, and established a head office in Victoria. In 1992, there were 265 indoor cricket centres in Australia - 54 in Victoria, 11 in Tasmania, 24 in WA, 17 in SA, 67 in NSW, 78 in Queensland, 5 in the NT and 4 in the ACT. Over 500,000 players were registered in Australia at this time.
In 1995, the World Indoor Cricket Federation was founded with members Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa.
National Championships
The first Indoor Cricket National Championships were held in 1984 in Perth and have run every year since, except for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. See the Nationals Honour Board page for a full list of nationals locations.
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In 1996, major rule changes occurred at the National Championships, changing the sport into what most people know as indoor cricket today. These rule changes were:
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The batters must run to score bonus net runs.
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After two consecutive dot balls, the batters must attempt to run on the third ball. (This year's program described the third ball rule as adding "tremendous excitement and pressure to the game and reward[ing] accurate bowling".)
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Skins scoring - each batting partnership is compared to the corresponding partnership of the other team, and whoever wins that mini competition receives a premiership point.
Australian teams
Player lists for Australian teams across Opens, Juniors and Masters can be found on the ​Australian teams page. Cap numbers and captains for the Opens teams can be found on...
Indoor cricket in Australia has an extremely proud and successful history, and Australia have won every single World Cup in both the Men's and Women's Open division.
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Australia are the current World Champions in the Open Men, Open Women, U18 Girls, U16 Boys and U14 Boys.
Open Women (2022)
U14 Boys (2023)
Open Men (2022)
U16 Boys (2023)
U18 Girls (2023)
State and territory
Australian Capital Territory
Mascot: Rockets (men) and Auroras (women)
Colours: royal blue and yellow
State body: Indoor Cricket ACT
State league teams: Phoenix, Falcons, Hydras, Bulls (since 2024)
National titles: 4x Open Men, 1 x Open Women
New South Wales (Metro & Country)
Mascot: Blues (metro) and Cyclones (country)
Colours: light blue (metro) and purple & yellow (country)
State body: Indoor Cricket NSW
State league teams: Bears, Cobras, Mustangs (men) and Dolphins, Stingrays, Sharks (women)
National titles: 6 x Open Men (metro), 8 x Open Women (metro), 3 x U22 Men (metro), 1 x U22 Women (metro), 4 x U14 Boys (2 x metro, 2 x country), 2 x U16 Boys (1 x metro, 1 x country), 3 x U18 Boys (metro), 5 x U18 Girls (3 x metro, 2 x country), 4 x O30 Women (metro), 3 x O30 Men (metro), 5 x O35 Men (metro), 3 x O40 Men (metro), 1 x O45 Men (metro)
Northern Territory
Mascot:
Colours: orange and black
State body:
State league teams:
National titles:
Queensland & North Queensland
Mascot: Lightning (Q women) and Thunder (Q men), and Vikings (NQ)
Colours: maroon, navy and white (Q), and lighter maroon and light blue (NQ)
State body: Indoor Cricket Federation Queensland
State league teams: Wynnum, Strathpine, Toombul, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Caboolture, Victoria Point, Springwood
National titles: 16 x Open Men's (Q), 21 x Open Women's (Q), 11 x U22 Men (9 x Q, 2 x NQ), 2 x U22 Women (Q), 17 x Lord Taverner's (Q), 4 x U14 Boys (3 x Q, 2 x SEQ), 8 x U16 Boys (Q), 18 x U18 Boys (Q), 1 x U14 Girls (Q), 7 x U18 Girls (Q), 11 x O30 Women (Q), 8 x O30 Men (Q), 16 x O35 Men (Q), 16 x O40 Men (Q), 4 x O45 Men (Q), 2 x O50 Men (Q)
Click the button below to view the Indoor Cricket Federation Queensland website.
South Australia
Mascot: none currently, Spiders from (approx. 2009-2018), Cobras before that. See photo to the right of the 1987 state shirt.
Colours: red, navy and yellow (used to be red and black up until 2018)
State body: Indoor Cricket South Australia and South Australian Women's Indoor Cricket. SAWIC split from ICSA in 2015.
State league teams: Women's - Steelers, United, Thunder, Devils (since 2017 when NICL was introduced). Prior to that, had Meteors, Stars, Comets, Galaxy, Suns and Rockets. Prior to that, were aligned with men's clubs. See table below for history of award winners for the SAWIC competition.
Men's - Northern Mavericks (formerly Salisbury Bulls - introduced 2023), Stepney Saints, Morphett Vale Sharks, Pink Panthers (formerly Modbury Chiefs - introduced 2018).
National titles: 1 x U22 Men, 2 x U22 Women, 2 x Lord Taverner's, 1 x U18 Boys, 1 x U18 Girls, 1 x O30 Women
SAWIC Award Winners & Honour Board
BBI Honour Board
BBI Award Winners
Tasmania
Mascot: Tigers
Colours: dark green, yellow and red
State body: Tasmanian Indoor Cricket
State league teams: Demons, Bears, Raiders, Colts
National titles: 1 x Open Women, 3 x Open Men
Victoria
Mascot: Hammer
Colours: navy blue and white
State body: Indoor Cricket Victoria
State league teams: Croydon Raiders, Renegades, Casey Stars, Chiefs, Kings, Northcote
National titles: 3 x Open Men, 6 x Open Women, 9 x U22 Men, 1 x U22 Women, 9 x Lord Taverner's, 4 x U14 Boys, 5 x U16 Boys, 2 x U18 Boys, 4 x U14 Girls, 2 x U18 Girls, 4 x O30 Men, 3 x O35 Men, 1 x O40 Men, 1 x O55 Men
Click the button below to go to the Indoor Cricket Victoria website.
Victorian Open Men's Cap Numbers
Victorian Open Women's Cap Numbers
Western Australia
Mascot: Wolves
Colours: yellow and black
State body: Indoor Sports WA - Cricket
State league teams: Seamer, Striker Leeming, Ballajura, Bouncer
National titles: 6 x Open Men, 4 x U22 Men, 1 x Lord Taverner's, 2 x U14 Boys, 3 x U16 Boys, 2 x U18 Boys, 2 x O40 Men