Indoor Cricket Nets

Indoor cricket nets are usually suspended off an attached metal rail which is fixed to runners or ball bearings. The metal rails are normally attached to the roof of a gymnasium or sports hall which allows the nets to drop down from anything up to 9m. This height is an advantage to spinners who want to give the ball 'flight' when bowling, the height advantage means the ball won't get stuck in the top net.

Also with the net being on rails fixed to the roof, it allows the nets to be drawn back from their position and tied up to create an open area which would be suitable for other activities.

Indoor nets are commonly white in colour, unlike outdoor nets which are black. This is for safety reasons. Also an indoor net has less division poles, which means there is less chance of a ball ricocheting off a pole, which could cause injury to one of the players.

The length of the net horizontally is normally around 20m long. Usually cricket nets will be found with two to five lanes which enable multiple players to practice either their batting or bowling skills at the same time. Indoor cricket nets also have a separate canvas shield around them. This is because the canvas is much stronger than the traditional mesh netting used for the rest of the net. It needs to be stronger because the area around the batsmen gets the most punishment from the cricket balls hitting the sides repeatedly. The canvas also makes the batsmen more secluded from his/her surroundings so they can concentrate more on their batting rather than what's going on around them. The canvas section is normally two to four metres high.