It started with a few friends hitting tennis balls around the parks in Northampton. A little help from kind donors towards some kits, a makeshift wicket and balls and a cricket club was born. Still no name and nowhere fixed to play, more and more young Bangladeshi youth joined in, expecting something to happen. And it did. The Rising Tigers Cricket Club was born in 2009.
The next 5 years saw the club play friendly matches against other adult and youth clubs from across the county and further afield. Without a regular ground to play in or proper equipment to compete, the club participated in organised summer tournaments across the UK against other groups primarily of Bangladeshi origin.
In 2015, the club entered the newly created Four Shires Cricket League, based in Buckinghamshire. The league sought to bring together unregistered clubs from across the UK, especially clubs organised by predominantly Bangladeshi youth.
What started off as a 4-team league, grew quickly to a 14-team national tournament running from May to September. As the popularity of the league grew so did interest in youth from across Northamptonshire to participate. Year on year, the club grew in size, confidence and enjoyed varying degrees of success in the Four Shires League.
In 2024, Northampton Rising Tigers Cricket Club was transformed into a brand new constituted, registered and affiliated cricket club, taking the name Northampton Warriors Cricket Club. A new management team, sponsorships, grant funding and a grand plan saw the new club completely change on and off the field.
A 50-strong membership and an enthusiastic playing squad emerged with the backing of new headline sponsors and brand new equipment and a ground to play home matches. The new journey for an old club got off to a flying start in 2025. Although the season ended with a mix bag of results, great strides were made in attracting new players, sponsors and volunteers to steer the club forward.
By the end of the year, the club had identified 12 members to participate in a coaching programme, 4 members for an umpiring programme and took part in various training and development sessions for officials including safeguarding.
Grant funding and sponsorships have enabled the club to plan ahead for 2026 with a full programme of indoor net practice at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and plans to share the ground of a local club for the coming season.
The club has ambitions to start a junior team and a girls team, tapping into grants and sponsorships to help develop the game for other groups. There is also interest from older players who begun the journey back in 2009, to form a veterans team.
