If you haven’t heard of it before, don’t worry. Table Cricket is one of the game’s best kept secrets.
Table Cricket was created and developed here in Nottinghamshire by Doug Williamson, lecturer in education at Nottingham Trent University in 1990. Part of their adapted sports project, it is an inclusive form of cricket that allows anyone to take part irrespective of strength or disability.
Now funded by The Lord’s Taverners as part of the SEND Schools Programme, table cricket has evolved to become a widely played and enjoyed sport with a national competition structure and thousands of young disabled people playing in schools and community settings.
Initially, the game is simple, as it distils the hand-eye co-ordination skills needed for traditional cricket into a highly accessible table-top activity. Bowling is delivered using a ramp, the bat is small and light and fielding is done with sliders up and down the sidings attached to a table tennis table. Many rules are identical to kwik cricket giving a fast-moving game that anyone with a physical or learning disability can engage with quickly and easily. In the regional and national competitions, margins are tight and the game increases in speed considerably.
Here in Nottinghamshire, table cricket is thriving; 20 SEND schools received coaching in curriculum time during the Spring term 2024, the most of any year to date. Two in-county tournaments, North and South, brought 10 teams into competition leading to a county final in the Long Room at Trent Bridge on 26th March. Hope House School, Westbury Academy, Dawn House School and Beech Academy (Fairholme) played for the inaugural county cup and a place in the regional competition at Derbyshire CCC in April. Beech Academy are no strangers to success in this tournament as they were crowned national champions at Lord’s in 2022, and placed third overall in 2023.
Nottinghamshire has previously had several national champion schools as both Fountaindale School and Portland College have also been victorious at the Home of Cricket.
The Nottinghamshire arm of the Lord’s Taverners SEND Programme is managed at Trent Bridge by Richard Preskey, Disability Cricket Officer, and offers table cricket and kwik cricket to SEND schools across the county. Table Cricket is delivered in partnership with The Belvoir Cricket and Countryside Trust, whose director is former Nottinghamshire batter Darren Bicknell.
Looking ahead, Table Cricket is set to grow further in our county as new partnerships develop. This year, young leaders from Portland College supported in-school sessions at Fountaindale School which is now a fixture in their curriculum. The North schools’ competition was hosted by The Joseph Whitaker School in Rainworth whose young leaders trained with our coaches and supported the day brilliantly, creating a strong link for the future.
In the 2024 – 25 academic year, table cricket will be taken into mainstream schools so that SEND learners across the educational spectrum can engage with this exciting and challenging game.
If you would like to bring table cricket to your school, club or community organisation, please contact richard.preskey@trentbridge.co.uk.