TidyHQ vs Play-Cricket
Last reviewed May 2026
Play-Cricket is the ECB's cricket platform for England and Wales. For Australian sport platform comparisons, TidyHQ vs PlayHQ, GameDay, or Cricket Australia's own systems is the relevant starting point.
Where TidyHQ wins
What your club runs separately from the ECB. Annual subs and match fees beyond ECB player registration, with card via Stripe. An authoritative member register including supporters, life members, social members, and volunteers — not just registered players. Finances categorised by source (subs, match fees, gate, social, fundraising, bar) with native Xero sync. AGM-ready minutes with action items assigned to officer roles. Apple and Google Wallet membership cards on Pro. Pitch and net booking via events with venue resources, including attendance captured at the point of activity. Plus TidyConnect for County Cricket Boards: consolidated governance, compliance, and policy-acknowledgement visibility across every affiliated club without removing club autonomy.
Where Play-Cricket wins
Play-Cricket is the ECB system of record for the cricket itself. Fixtures, match results, league tables, player registration, and the statistics that make the league work belong there — and they integrate with the ECB's national reporting in ways no third-party platform can match. It's free to clubs, mandated by the ECB, and built by people who know the game. For the cricket side of the operation, Play-Cricket is where it lives. The framing on this page is alongside, not against.
Best for
ECB-affiliated cricket clubs that already run Play-Cricket for fixtures and results and need the club admin and governance layer Play-Cricket doesn't cover — finances, AGMs, member register beyond registered players, social revenue. Plus County Cricket Boards that want consolidated governance visibility across their affiliated clubs through TidyConnect.
Feature comparison
Built for
TidyHQ
The club committee and the County Cricket BoardPlay-Cricket
Cricket fixtures, results, and player registrationWho funds it
TidyHQ
Your club / your CCB, directlyPlay-Cricket
ECB — free to clubsFixtures, match results, league tables
TidyHQ
✗ Belongs in Play-CricketPlay-Cricket
The system of recordPlayer registration (ECB-mandated)
TidyHQ
Play-Cricket
Statistics and player-of-the-match
TidyHQ
Play-Cricket
Member register beyond players (supporters, social, life)
TidyHQ
Full registerPlay-Cricket
Player-focusedAnnual subs with auto-renewals
TidyHQ
StripePlay-Cricket
LimitedMatch fee collection (Sunday-morning links)
TidyHQ
Card via StripePlay-Cricket
Family memberships with linked records
TidyHQ
Family discountsPlay-Cricket
Apple Wallet + Google Wallet cards
TidyHQ
Pro plan, auto-updatingPlay-Cricket
Pitch / nets / clubhouse booking
TidyHQ
Via events with venue resourcesPlay-Cricket
Event ticketing with member pricing
TidyHQ
For dinners, quiz nights, fundraisersPlay-Cricket
Online shop with member pricing
TidyHQ
Play-Cricket
Finances by category
TidyHQ
Subs / match fees / gate / social / barPlay-Cricket
Xero integration
TidyHQ
Native two-way syncPlay-Cricket
CASC participation tracking
TidyHQ
RoadmapPlay-Cricket
PartialMeeting minutes & governance
TidyHQ
Agendas, minutes, action itemsPlay-Cricket
County Cricket Board consolidated visibility
TidyHQ
TidyConnect — consent-scoped per clubPlay-Cricket
PartialDocument storage
TidyHQ
25 GBPlay-Cricket
LimitedKey differences
Play-Cricket manages the cricket. TidyHQ manages the club.
Play-Cricket holds fixtures, results, league tables, and ECB-mandated player registration — that's the system of record for the playing side and it should stay there. TidyHQ holds the rest: annual subs and match fees, the supporters and social members who don't play, finances by category, AGM minutes, the clubhouse bar. The two systems don't overlap and they don't compete.
Attendance captured at the point of activity
Training, match, and net session attendance captured through events with venue resources and linked to membership records. Useful when your committee needs a clean view of who turned up, when, and how often — without reconstructing it from training spreadsheets and match cards at year-end. Purpose-built CASC reporting and HMRC export are on the roadmap.
Match fees on a Sunday-morning email link
The clubhouse cash box, the Revolut requests, the "I'll sort you next week" — gone. Players pay match fees through a post-game email or SMS link by card via Stripe, in two taps. Outstanding match fees visible to the captain and fixtures secretary in one place. Treasurer stops chasing.
County Cricket Boards get consolidated governance visibility
TidyConnect lets a County Cricket Board federate with affiliated clubs — consent-scoped, club-controlled, role-based. The CCB sees which clubs have policies acknowledged, safeguarding officers appointed, and committee minutes recorded, without removing club autonomy or seeing data the club hasn't explicitly shared. The line between affiliation and oversight stays where the club draws it.
What Play-Cricket does well
Play-Cricket is the ECB system of record for the cricket itself. Fixtures, match results, league tables, player registration, and the statistics that make the league work belong there — and they integrate with the ECB's national reporting in ways no third-party platform can match. It's free to clubs, mandated by the ECB, and built by people who know the game. For the cricket side of the operation, Play-Cricket is where it lives. The framing on this page is alongside, not against.
We think honest comparisons build more trust than pretending competitors don’t exist. Try both and see which one your committee actually uses.
Is TidyHQ right for you?
TidyHQ is the better choice if…
- You're an ECB cricket club and the back office is the real workload — subs, match fees, AGM, bar, finances by category
- Match fee collection on a Sunday morning is currently a Revolut-and-cashbox mess
- You're a County Cricket Board that wants consolidated governance visibility across affiliated clubs
- Your treasurer is reconstructing year-end attendance and finance reports from training spreadsheets
- Clubhouse bar, social events, and fundraising revenue need to be categorised separately
Play-Cricket might be better if…
- •Your club's software pain begins and ends with fixtures, results, and ECB-mandated player registration
- •You don't run social revenue (bar, dinners, fundraisers) at a scale that needs categorisation
- •You need purpose-built CASC reporting or Gift Aid export today — both are on TidyHQ's roadmap, not shipped
- •The committee's admin lives in shared docs and email and works for the size of your club
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about using Play-Cricket vs TidyHQ for membership organisations.
No. Every ECB-affiliated cricket club we work with keeps Play-Cricket for fixtures, results, league tables, and ECB-mandated player registration — that's where it should stay. TidyHQ runs alongside as the club admin spine: subs, match fees, supporters, social revenue, AGM minutes, bar. The two systems serve different layers of the club.
Yes — that's what TidyConnect is for. The CCB federates with affiliated clubs through TidyConnect Projects, with each club consenting to what it shares. The board sees policy acknowledgements, safeguarding officer appointments, and committee health across the county without removing club autonomy or seeing club data the club hasn't explicitly shared. See /tidyconnect for the architecture.
No. Match-day scoring, ball-by-ball capture, league tables, and player statistics belong in Play-Cricket and integrate with the ECB's reporting. TidyHQ doesn't compete with any of that. It runs alongside it for the parts of club life Play-Cricket isn't built for.
Not yet — purpose-built CASC reporting and HMRC Gift Aid export are both on our roadmap. Today TidyHQ captures training, match, and net session attendance through events with venue resources and links it to membership records, which gives your treasurer a cleaner audit trail than spreadsheets. Clubs that need a one-click CASC or Gift Aid export today typically run a separate UK-specific tool alongside TidyHQ.
Yes. Post-match an email or SMS goes out with a payment link. Players pay by card via Stripe from their phone in two taps. Outstanding match fees show in one place for the fixtures secretary and treasurer. No more cashbox, no more Revolut requests.
Free for clubs under 20 contacts with full features and no expiry. Pro is £37 GBP/month (billed annually) for larger clubs, with a 1% + 10p GBP service fee on transactions plus Stripe processing fees. No per-member pricing, no annual contract, no setup fee. County Cricket Boards needing TidyConnect for federation-level oversight should contact us — pricing is a flat annual licence covering all affiliated clubs.
Sources
Claims in this comparison are based on publicly available information. Verify current pricing and features directly with each provider.
- 1ECB Play-Cricket official site— England & Wales Cricket Board official cricket platform
- 2ECB Play-Cricket for clubs— How clubs use Play-Cricket for fixtures, results, and registration
- 3TidyConnect — federation governance layer— Consent-scoped federation model for County Cricket Boards consolidating governance across clubs
Related comparisons
Other Sport Federation Platforms alternatives we’ve written about.