From back shed to $900 million showpiece: Stumps lighting up Women’s Premier League created in tiny Sydney suburb

From his back shed in the Hawkesbury region, a Sydney dad has created a centrepiece of one of world cricket’s major events, the concept of which is the brainchild of a former NSW Blues cricketer and legendary Balmain Tiger, writes BEN HORNE.

When Ellyse Perry was shattering stumps in India this week, the soldering iron that made them was still running hot in a back shed on the outskirts of Sydney.

Electra Stumps have lit up the Women’s Indian Premier League to become cricket’s latest innovation revolution, but the journey to getting them there has been nothing short of incredible.

Sydney dad Joel Manwar had never watched a game of cricket in its entirety before being tasked with the extraordinary mission of manufacturing, and then hand-delivering the interactive wickets to Delhi and Mumbai … and then flying back to do it all over again.

With six 3D printers and a dedication to burning the candle at both ends, Manwar has answered the constant demands of the all-powerful BCCI from his back shed in Oakville, a tiny Sydney suburb best known as the scene for the Wandin Bush Nursing Hospital in the iconic soap, A Country Practice.

On Friday afternoon he touched down in Delhi for the final time clinging to the Electra Stumps that will service the $900 million Women’s Premier League’s blockbuster Final on Sunday night having spent the past three weeks making and flying over stumps on almost a game-by-game basis.

Indian cricket specialises in mind-blowing numbers, but Manwar is in a league of his own.

“I think we’ve gone through nearly 50kg of plastic, we’ve burnt out three printers and used about seven grand worth of electricity to print them,” Manwar told this masthead from Hong Kong airport, on his way to the final.

The wickets are being made by Manwar’s manufacturing business in Sydney. Picture: Supplied

“I can’t even explain to people, it can’t be summed up in words.

“We got the thumbs up a week and a half out that we were going to the WPL and their requirements were significantly more than what we’d done for the BBL. They needed cameras and they needed to have different control systems.

“The soldering iron was still cooling down as I was getting in the car to drive to the airport.

“The first drop off was absolutely wild.

“The second drop-off, I think that was a record; that was about 70 hours straight. We had about an hour’s grace to get the stumps to the airport.”

Manwar with his creations before a match in India. Picture: Supplied

This is Manwar’s second trip to India since the tournament began two weeks ago but even when he’s not at home, the 3D printers have continued running with him watching on remotely via webcam.

A single stump takes 18 hours to print, and then comes the hard part – wiring the LED and software in by hand.

In order to make all the deliveries required during the tournament, a local runner in India was hired to literally fly to Sydney, pick up a bag of stumps then get straight back on a plane. On repeat.

Electra Stumps is the brainchild of former Australian cricketer Neil Maxwell, Balmain Tigers legend Benny Elias and businessman Matt Bradford through their company, Crossbar Promotions.

It’s a fitting name for Elias’ given he says he can still hear the dink of the ball bouncing the wrong way off the crossbar from his fateful field-goal attempt in the 1989 rugby league grand final.

Ben Elias chats with David Warner at the Kayo Cricket Launch last year. Picture: John Appleyard

But now he’s delighting in making static objects like goal posts and cricket stumps sing, light-up and come alive on the field for viewers and fans.

“Mate, I know everything about cricket stumps now! If you told me I would be following women’s cricket in India, you never would have believed me. I’m very proud about it. We’ve got a great team. It’s changing at breakneck speed and it’s really exciting stuff,” Elias said.

“We’re making the game sexier, more entertaining for the people who go to the games and for the people who are watching on TV.

“To be watching it and overlooking it really is an eye opener for me personally and how they can make these boring old stumps exciting. It’s gone to another level.”

Electra Stumps have been championed by Fox Cricket in Australia and are growing so rapidly that production will soon move outside Manwar’s back shed.

“Joel is an amazing engineer who has literally been modifying the product in between matches. The product has only been in operation since midway through the BBL and is still constantly in development if that makes sense,” Maxwell said.

“This batch has basically been handmade but the view is to get through this weekend and then put into practice all the learnings into a version that goes to a bigger manufacturing program. It’s going to another level.”

Originally published as From back shed to $900 million showpiece: Stumps lighting up Women’s Premier League created in tiny Sydney suburb