Indoor Cricket
Indoor cricket resumed for Chingford Cricket Club in 2021/22 on Saturday Mornings following a gap of many years. Previously Chingford were winners of the Metropolitan Essex Indoor League in 1991/2 and winners of the Waltham Abbey Indoor League in 2007/8, 2010/11 and 2012/3. The Club for many years also took part in the British Airways Trophy held at Fort Regent in St. Helier, Jersey which formed the basis of a Winter Tour.
The 2026/27 indoor season is underway and we are delighted to once again enter three teams into the Metropolitan Essex District Cricket Board Adult Indoor Cricket League.
- A Team (Stags): Competing in Division 3 at the Leyton Hub, co-captained by Shehzah Hussain & Ross Simmons
- B Team (Bucks): Competing in Division 4 at the Pastures Youth Centre, captained by Ryan Heath
- C Team (Fawns): Competing in Division 5 at the Pastures Youth Centre, co-captained by Nikhil Bhudia & Zachary Shakeel
If you are interested in playing, please reach out to Stephen Thorne. We welcome new players and the opportunity for continued growth and success as we build on recent seasons’ progress.
Results can be found on the Fixtures Tab and Statistics on the Stats Tab.
Report on Season 2025/26 by Stephen Thorne:
Chingford Senior Indoor Cricket — 2025/26 Season Review
Chingford Cricket Club’s three senior indoor teams completed a winter programme of 32 fixtures during the 2025/26 season, recording 12 wins, 19 defeats and one abandonment. The wins included one fixture conceded by the opposition.
The A team competed in Division 2, the B team in Division 3 and the C team in Division 5. With matches at Leyton and Pastures, the programme provided opportunities for players to continue competing throughout the winter, combining experienced club cricketers with developing players.
A Team — Division 2
The A team faced a challenging campaign, finishing with one win and nine defeats from their ten fixtures. Several matches were closely contested, including a one-wicket defeat to Old Brentwoods and two-wicket defeats against Loughton and Sankalp.
Their persistence was rewarded in the final fixture on 14 February, when Chingford beat Old Brentwoods to finish the season with a victory.
Ross Simmons led the side’s batting with 151 runs, averaging 25.17, with a highest score of 31 not out. Abdul Jedran contributed 113 runs, while Bernard Storm added 110.
Bernard also led the bowling with nine wickets, followed by Abdul with five and Scott Prestedge with four. Lewis Dixon took five catches, while Abdul recorded two catches and three stumpings.
B Team — Division 3
The B team recorded five wins, four defeats and one abandonment, with their victories including the November fixture conceded by Ekota Academy.
Their completed-match wins came against Ilford Catholic twice, Ekota Academy and Goodmayes United. Two contrasting January results stood out: a commanding 109-run victory over Ilford Catholic, followed by a tense two-run win against Ekota.
Raja Tariq made a substantial contribution with the bat, scoring 234 runs at an average of 39, including a highest score of 47. His consistency provided the foundation for much of the side’s batting.
Mobin Mohammadi led the bowling with ten wickets at an average of 14.40. Georgie Heath contributed six wickets, while Faizan Awan and Raja took four each. Ryan Heath led the side’s recorded fielding dismissals with five catches.
C Team — Division 5
The C team finished with an even record of six wins and six defeats from twelve fixtures.
After losing their opening match, they put together three successive victories against Bystone, London Sports Club and Bancroft Lions. Further wins followed against Bystone and Bancroft Lions in the return fixtures, before a victory over Wanstead & Snaresbrook Veterans B brought the campaign to a positive close.
Nikhil Bhudia and Aadam Ali shared the batting lead with 118 runs each, closely followed by Zachary Shakeel with 112. Aadam’s highest score was 39 not out, while Nikhil’s was 36.
Nikhil also led the bowling with ten wickets, completing a strong all-round season. Adiyan Waseem took six wickets, with Zachary and Aadam adding four each.
Adiyan led the recorded fielding dismissals across the three indoor sides with seven — six catches and one stumping. Nikhil contributed a further five catches.
Season Highlights and Thanks
Across his appearances for the A and B teams, Raja Tariq scored 256 runs, the highest combined batting aggregate in the supplied records. Mobin Mohammadi and Nikhil Bhudia shared the leading wicket tally with ten each.
The season brought convincing victories, narrow finishes and valuable playing opportunities across all three squads.
Thank you to every player who represented Chingford, the captains and everyone who helped organise availability, selection, scoring and match arrangements. Thanks also to the league organisers, officials and opposition clubs for supporting the winter programme.
Report on Season 2024/25 by Stephen Thorne:
The 2024/25 indoor season marked another significant milestone for Chingford Cricket Club, with three teams representing the club across different venues and divisions; the first time we have achieved this since re-launching indoor cricket.
- The A Team, led by Ross Simmons, competed in Division 3 at the Leyton Hub, finishing 2nd out of 6 with 6 wins and 88 points from 10 matches.
- The B Team, captained by Nick van Arkel, played in Division 4 at the Pastures Youth Centre, finishing 4th out of 10 with 5 wins and 77 points from 9 matches.
- The C Team, under Monish Shastri, completed their debut campaign in Division 5 at the Pastures, finishing 7th out of 10 with 4 wins and 72 points from 9 matches.
This was a fantastic achievement for everyone involved and highlights the growing depth and enthusiasm within the club. Indoor cricket continues to provide an excellent platform for players to develop skills, maintain match fitness during the off-season and stay connected socially over the winter months.
Congratulations to all players who took part!
Report on Season 2023/24 by Stephen Thorne:
Last season saw us expand our involvement in the Metropolitan Essex District Cricket Board Adult Indoor Cricket League with the introduction of a second team.
A Team: Captained by Ross Simmons, the team featured regulars such as Shehzad Hussain, Ali Butt, Lewis Dixon, Scott Prestedge and Faizan Awan. Stephen Thorne and Tomas Biswas made occasional appearances. Competing in Division 2 against clubs like GB Strikers, South Loughton, Frenford, Hornchurch Athletic and Wanstead & Snaresbrook at the Leyton Hub, the A team finished 5th with 2 wins, collecting 55 points from 10 matches.
B Team: Led by captain Nick van Arkel, the B team’s core players included Raja Tariq, Bernard Storm, Bilal Ahmed, Abdul Jedran and Zaen Aasaf. The team also saw contributions from Monsh Shastri, Micky Driver, Ehsen Shah and Benick van Arkel. Playing in Division 4 at the Pastures Youth Centre, they competed against teams such as Loughton, Icon, Wanstead & Snaresbrook, Goodmayes United, Walthamstow, Spartans and Sankalp. The B team finished 5th in their division with 4 wins and 58 points from 7 matches.
Additionally, the B team participated in a mini-league with Walthamstow, Sankalp and Spartans to complete a 10-match season, emerging victorious in all encounters and securing 1st place in the mini-league.
The season concluded with an indoor cup competition at the Pastures Youth Centre. Despite a strong effort in the group stage, we were unable to advance to the final stages.
Report on Season 2022/2023 by Stephen Thorne:
We participated in the Metropolitan Essex District Cricket Board Division 4, having secured a promotion from Division 5 in the previous season. This season also saw the introduction of new players, Bernard Storm and Nick van Arkel, into our squad.
In the initial league format, our team finished in 5th place. We achieved 2 victories against Sankalp and West Essex, experienced 4 losses to Frenford, Ilford Catholics, Wanstead & Snaresbrook and Goodmayes United and had 1 conceded match against Woodford Green. Despite this mixed performance, it was evident that we had the potential for improvement, accumulating a total of 51 points.
To wrap up the indoor season, we participated in a mini league competition alongside West Essex, Woodford Green and Sankalp. We emerged victorious in all matches against these opponents, securing 1st place in this mini league.
Here's a breakdown of our leading run-scorers and wicket-takers for the season:
Batting:
Nick van Arkel: 130 runs
Ross Simmons: 108 runs
Bernard Storm: 77 runs
Bowling:
Scott Prestedge: 8 wickets
Ross Simmons: 7 wickets
Nick van Arkel: 6 wickets
Report on Season 2021/2022 by Stephen Thorne:
After several years of absence from the indoor cricket scene, we entered a team into the Metropolitan Essex District Cricket Board's Saturday League. We were placed in the bottom league (Division 5) with matches being played at The Pastures Youth Centre in Leytonstone.
In our first match, with many of our players having minimal indoor experience; we managed to bowl out Goodmayes United for 62 in 9.1 overs with Scott Prestedge returning figures of 2-0-9-3 along with a run out; we successfully chased this down for the loss of 2 wickets with extras being the top score with 33 (1 bye, 2 leg byes, 29 wides and 1 no ball).
In our second match, we narrowly lost to Wanstead & Snaresbrook by 6 runs after a valiant effort with the bat from Lewis Dixon with 62 not out with 4 sixes in the last over.
All our other matches against weaker/unexperienced opposition were pretty much a non-contest with us winning 4 of these; however, our fourth match against Walthamstow (who went on to win the initial league format, unbeaten with 6 wins and 1 tie) beat us by 32 runs with their captain and opening batsman scoring 82 not out; our top scorer in our innings was extras again with 42 (2 byes, 1 leg bye and 39 wides).
We finished 3rd in the initial league format with 5 wins and 2 losses.
To finish the indoor season, the top 4 in our league were entered into a play-off against Wanstead & Snaresbrook, Walthamstow and South Loughton.
After another narrowing loss by 1 wicket to Wanstead & Snaresbrook in the final over, our hopes of winning this play-off were hampered but after seeking revenge on Walthamstow by defending 60 and taking the last wicket in the final over to win by 5 runs, our aspirations were renewed. This match was streamed live on our Instagram page (Watch Here).
In the final games, with Walthamstow beating Wanstead in the game before ours, meant that if we beat South Loughton, we would win the play-off.
We batted first and scored a competitive 109 all out with Usman Younas contributing with 30. We looked comfortable to win with South Loughton being 40 for 4 off 6 overs; after 9 overs they were 59 for 4, 51 to win off 3 overs; over 10 bowled by Usman Younas went for 18 with a 6 being hit off a no ball leaving 33 to win off 2 overs, over 11 bowled by Scott Prestedge went for 19 leaving 14 to win off the last over.
The last over bowled by Faizan Awan, went 1, dot, dot; leaving 13 off 3 balls; the fourth ball went for 6, leaving 7 to win off 2 balls; South Loughton hit the remaining 2 balls for 3 each, meaning that the match was tied and that we finished 2nd in the play-off.
Even after a match that we should have won and that would have won us the play-off; everyone who played contributed in their own way and it was a very successful first season back playing indoor cricket.
We will look upon this season as a stepping stone for the future as we have been promoted and we hope that there is more interest from others within the club to allow us to enter a second team in this competition.
We have our own Instagram page (Follow Us) where score sheets have been uploaded and often games are streamed live on that platform.