Prepare to be bowled over by Imperial’s inclusive and award-winning cricket society.
Words: Peter Watts / Photography: Angela Moore
If you dream of treading the hallowed turf at the ‘home of cricket’, then ICU Cricket, Imperial’s all-conquering cricket society, is the club for you. “We run trials every October in the nets at Lord’s,” says President Suhas Arun (Computing, Fourth Year), “and it’s a chance for everybody to see the facilities and hopefully have an amazing experience.”
The society runs three men’s teams and a women’s XI, with indoor matches and informal Sunday club friendlies, ensuring that everybody can get their fix of leather on willow all year round. “A real sense of community has been developed by the society in the last few years,” says Arun. “It’s well structured, with weekly socials, training once or twice a week and fixtures for all abilities, so it’s easy to get involved.”
Our socials are quite unique as we have a lot of non-drinking members – we tailor activities to everybody.
This was recognised at the 2024 Union awards when the Cricket Society came out on top. “We were also nominated for BUCS national sports club of the year in 2022 and finished in the top four, which was amazing,” says Mithun Padmanabhan (Mechanical Engineering, Fourth Year), the society Vice- Chair. “Imperial isn’t always immediately recognised for its sports, so to be known as one of the best university sports clubs in the country is a great accomplishment.”
With outdoor cricket confined to the ten weeks of summer term, the Cricket Society needs to innovate to retain interest during the winter months, with activities both on and off the pitch. The season starts in October with trials, followed by indoor cricket every Friday evening at the South Kensington Campus. As well as the society’s informal league, the first XI compete in the BUCS Indoor National Championships, and reached the National Finals in the past two seasons.
Winter usually includes a team-building domestic tour to a city such as Cardiff, Liverpool or Leeds, with weekly socials to develop those bonds even further. This includes an annual game of Pub Cricket – a pub crawl in which freshers are asked to wear at least one piece of cricket equipment. But don’t worry: if Pub Cricket isn’t the game for you, the society has plenty of others you can try. “Our socials are quite unique for a sports society as we have a lot of non-drinking members,” says Arun. “We try and tailor the social to everybody and do activities such as using a batting simulator, or bowling or mini golf. We want to do activities that will appeal to more people.”
This sense of inclusivity has seen the women’s XI gain prominence, winning their league last year and attracting so much interest that there’s talk of fielding a second XI. In the three men’s teams there is a good mix of standards, from a first team that includes internationals and county players to a third XI that might include those who haven’t padded up for years.
With pitches at the Imperial sports ground in Harlington and the promise of a European tour – previous trips have included Croatia and Spain – it’s no surprise that cricket at Imperial is thriving, and not just for the players. “During the summer, it can be very easy to persuade your friends to come to watch a match,” says Padmanabhan. “It’s a nice break during exam season. You can get a bit of sunlight and see friends while we try and score some runs. And if I’ve got out early, I can sit in the sun with my friends and relax.”