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For UNM cricket players, it's a field of dreams
Srikant Narruvala pitches at UNM's Inaugural Cup. The UNM Cricket Club is now a member of the Colorado Cricket League but hopes to one day create a New Mexico league |
It has all the common elements of a baseball game: pride, blood, sweat, tears, bats and balls.
If only cricket had the same faithful followers as baseball.
At the grassroots level, cricket is a less celebrated version of baseball, lacking in the pageantry and national attachment that has popularized America's pastime.
The length of the games, which can last anywhere from hours to days, is one of the many reasons cricket has been handed the difficult task of emerging and competing with some of the better-known sports associated with American culture.
"Cricket has always been an English sport," said Kervyn Dimney, President of the Colorado Cricket League. "From what people have heard about cricket, they've heard that there's this game that could last for five days."
The long cricket games and short attention spans of Americans don't bode well for the sport.
So what are cricketers doing?
Dimney said they're adapting.
"There's a newer version of the game called Twenty20," he said. "The International Cricket Council has come up with this new format similar to a baseball game, just so it could be popularized in the Americas."
A game of Twenty20 consists of 20 overs. An over is six legal deliveries, or pitches. Thus, each side is allotted 120 pitches. As in baseball, the objective of cricket is to score the most runs.
Dimney said the newer version of the game takes about three hours, compared to a more standard version of the game, where each side gets 40 overs, or 240 pitches, and can take days to complete.
What this means for UNM
More than 20 years of hard work have come to fruition.
After urging UNM to secure funds to install a concrete cricket pitch at Johnson Field at a Board of Regents meeting in 2007, by February 2008, the pitch was complete.
Amitabh Trehan, president of the UNM Cricket Club, said having a legitimate place to play cricket is fundamental if the sport is to be popularized in New Mexico.
Since joining the Colorado Cricket League in 2006, UNM had to travel to Colorado to play home games.
But now that UNM has its own pitch, Trehan is determined to expand the boundaries of cricket and possibly form a New Mexico league sometime in the future.
"The problem is we don't have too many teams," Trehan said. "The Colorado Cricket League has seven or eight good teams."
Trehan said there used to be a Tex-Mex league about 10 years ago.
But if cricket is to become more widespread, Dimney said UNM will need to branch off and become independent of the CCL.
"It would be greater if they could start a New Mexico league," he said. "That'd make (cricket) bigger."
Dimney said the biggest challenge facing New Mexico is building adequate facilities.
"They need to focus more on the infrastructure," he said. "Get Parks and Recreation to cooperate with them to take it to the next level."
Trehan said he has had discussions with Dimney, and he and Dimney agree that the community needs to embrace cricket.
"One apparent thing we see in Colorado is they have a lot of support from their cities," he said. "A lot of these places have a lot of cement pitches, which they have on public grounds."
Another possible way to incorporate cricket into the community is by pumping it through the school systems.
"From what I heard, somebody was talking to the city administrations and said, 'OK, we can give you public grounds, but you have to start a junior league,'" Trehan said.
Overall, Trehan and Dimney outlined some ambitious goals to popularize cricket. But Trehan said ultimately, it's about getting everyday Americans to embrace cricket like they would the NFL or the NBA.
It's a goal that could take years to fulfill, but the important thing is that Trehan has started now.
"Almost all people that come from India and other (bordering) countries, they've grown up on cricket," he said. "That's one of the reasons for having the club. It's a great cultural experience. Cricket used to be a sport that the U.S. used to play at one time."
At the New Mexico level, Trehan is the spokesman for cricket, and he is intent on resurrecting the game.
"(Cricket) has a rich history, a rich tradition," he said. "It will be a great bridge for Americans to interact with all the other countries that are playing this sport. And America has history in cricket - deep history in cricket. In fact, the first international cricket match was held between the U.S. and Canada."
For the original article with pictures, slideshow, and commentary from Amitabh Trehan (UNMCC President), visit DailyLobo
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