INDOOR CRICKET WORLD

The net enclosing an Indoor-Cricket court must be very tightly tensioned. This allows consistency in the ball's bounce off the net. It is also a safety feature - players are securely protected from hitting any walls or columns which may be close to the court, and there is less chance of getting fingers caught in tight nets. It also allows spectators to be closer to the game, as players hitting the net will not stretch it far.

The court is defined by a cubic frame of high-strength steel cable, to which the netting is securely attached. Tensioning of the net is achieved by tensioning of this "cube". The lower four cables of the cube are secured directly into the concrete floor. The four lower corners are usually tensioned to anchor points also set into the concrete.

The top four cables are all fastened at the corners to anchor points, located on the ceiling/inner-roof. These take the main tension, and help form the 'box' structure of the cables. These top cables are then further fastened to the ceiling for additional support. The shape of the box thus formed is achieved by adjusting the tension mainly in the eight corners, with finer tuning possible by individually adjusting the extra attachments along the top edges.

Tensioning system for court netting

Note- in this diagram, all anchorings are not shown. This is simply a diagrammatic representation, to give you an idea of the set-up.

Courts are usually constructed in factory-units, or purpose-built centres. However, they can also be constructed in a free-standing configuration, with an external skeleton of steel, also supported by cables, taking the place of the ceiling. Such a configuration was used at the World Cup in Melbourne in 1998.