Cheltenham Civil Service has won the Indoor Cricket League for the past three years and will be hoping to win it for the fourth time running.
“We keep things simple, and everyone understands their specific role in the team.” Baker speaks about their success indoor as the game is a fast and energetic game.
Civil service have only lost four games in the past four seasons and have a winning record of 84.09% since 2019 making them the team to beat.
Baker made 187 runs last season at an average of 20.78 only 4.22 runs under the retirement mark for indoor cricket.
The keeper states “We might not be the best team in terms of individual players, but we have a great team spirit.” but
The champions had six players averaging over 20 last year, which shows that they have very good, versatile squad, of indoor players.
The Display Refrigeration hire LTD Cheltenham Indoor Cricket League division one is played at leisure, which is a Cheltenham indoor facility, a place that holds a lot of history as well as somewhere that Civil Service have mastered their craft over the last few years.
Experience and knowledge is also key to success in indoor cricket as Baker said, “We have a small squad of eight/nine players, and most have been playing indoors regularly for approximately 10 years now.”
Civil service are hoping for their fourth title in a row, but Baker stated, “This season, we hope to remain challenging for league & cup honours, but acknowledge it will be much harder this year.”
In the league this year, Hatherley & Reddings have joined the top division, which includes Cheltenham CC, UOG Cricket, Charlton Kings and Cheltenham Civil Service.
Baker said, “There are five very strong teams in the league this season, and we think it will be a very competitive league, with any team capable of winning it.”
There has already been one game week played, Hatherley & Reddings came out victorious against UOG, and Cheltenham picked up a shock result against Civil Service. Baker commented on the opening fixture, talking through why the game played out how it did.
“Last week, we played very well for the first 9 overs. We let Cheltenham back into the game in the back end of their innings”.
Cheltenham made 96 for four in their 12 overs with Civil Service fell 33 runs short in their chase as said Baker “Was hard to turn the momentum they had back around second innings”.
The Civil’s Service opening batter was clearly down about the result, wanting to put things right in the next game to come.
“I think we just have to learn on our experience and be ruthless in moments where we are dominant in matches.
“Hopefully we can bounce back with a win tomorrow!”
Civil Service face off against the team they met in last year’s final, UOG cricket tonight. The game is at 19:30pm down at Leisure At, Cheltenham if you’re in and around the area wanting to watch high-level indoor cricket.
