BOWLED OVER BY A DAY OF CRICKET
Dozen amateur teams at NL tournament hope sport’s popularity grows
New London — The whole “Field of Dreams” aesthetic extends well beyond just baseball.
This was evident Sunday at Bates Woods Park, where 12 amateur cricket teams from across Connecticut, Massachusetts and even New Jersey gathered for a one-day tournament organized by the New London Indians Cricket Club.
The sun was just rising over nearby New London High School when the athletes, all from Indian-American communities, began arriving on a brisk morning that seemed more fall than August. Carrying equipment, coolers and boxes of doughnuts and coffee, team members from the Indians and the Springfield Ballers were first on the field. As they warmed up, laughing and exchanging good-natured one-liners in Hindi, the casual sense of joy and anticipation was such that, had the ghosts of cricket past materialized out of the far tree line and loped toward the action, it would’ve been totally appropriate.
“There is great passion for cricket, you know, in India, Australia, Pakistan and England,” said Divyish Patel, a member of the New London Indians and the man who organized the tournament. “Here in the U.S., not so many people know about it.”
“All Indian people do!” commented a smiling man passing by in a Ballers jersey. Laughter erupted.
Learning a reporter was in their midst, several players gathered around, eager to explain their favorite sport and its place in their culture.
“More and more, cricket is being promoted across America, “one said. “There are now fields and cricket communities in Los Angeles and Florida and there are more every day.”
“Most of us grew up playing cricket in India, and of course we brought our love of the sport with us when we came to the U.S.,” said another. “It would be excellent if schools started to have cricket teams, and it might happen. Right now, though, we’re slowly seeing more people interested. We have friends of friends who get interested, and friends that aren’t Indian who want to know more. Social media is helping spread the word. If someone likes baseball —”
— “Yes, it’s like baseball,” a teammate jumped in, laughing, “only with more action!”
Indeed, there are bats and hit balls and wickets — similar to bases — and each team takes turns batting and fielding. There are 11 players per side, and a system of outs and runs that determine scoring and time limit.
Matches in “First Class Cricket,” as one level of the sport is called, can last three to five days. For tournaments such as New London’s, there are much shorter matches — and that data is probably sufficient to get the novice viewer intrigued at a first-ever match.
By 10 a.m., early games have been decided on the two fields of play, and Waltham, Mass., player Archit Patel — he explains the surname “Patel” is very widespread, like Smith in America” — has been awarded the first Man of the Match trophy (a distinction that indeed occurs for each contest).
In answer to a question about the quality of play, Divyish Patel said, “Oh, yes, some of these players are good enough to have played professionally in India. My brother Dhaval, who is playing today, was selected to play professionally, but we wanted to move to America.”
Dhaval and Divyish are part of a multi-generational family that operates two popular businesses in south New London, Ocean Food Mart and Ocean Discount Wine and Spirits.
Their uncle, Roger Patel, owns another liquor store in Hodges Square and was hunkered down Sunday in a pavilion just beyond the fields, overseeing a massive cooking operation that would feed all the tourney participants lunch and dinner. The array of cooking spices, mingling with cut grass, was delightful.
“I played cricket when I was younger, but it’s their time now,” Roger Patel said, nodding toward the action of the fields of play.
He stirred his giant pot of savories, saying, “I just really enjoy doing this, making sure everyone has plenty to eat and a place to gather and talk. This is very much a social thing, a community activity. We hope others in the community will maybe become part of it.”
Standing on a sidewalk with a view of both fields, Chris and Katie Hallisey and their 11-year-old daughter, Hannah, were watching the action. Chris Hallisey, who said he coached American Legion baseball for 11 years in the area, said, “I’ve seen cricket on TV. It’s pretty interesting. We live in the same neighborhood (where the Patels’ stores are) and heard about the tournament, so we thought we’d check it out.”
“Why not?” Katie Hallisey asked. “There’s such a sense of spirit here. We should all be reaching out to events like this, right?”
By late afternoon, with quarterfinal games underway, Divyish Patel was pleased at how the tourney was going.
“More and more of these tournaments are popping up, and it’s something I can see happening on a bigger scale,” he said.
Then he was asked a more immediate question. His Indians team looked headed for the championship game; did he think they would win?
“Oh, of course!” he laughed. “There’s no doubt.” Then he paused. “Well, I hope so.”