It’s a chilly, sunny Saturday morning at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx. Kids are playing tag under the shadows of low-flying planes making their way to LaGuardia Airport. Between the familiar blare of the ferry horn and the low rumble of 10 a.m. traffic overhead on the Whitestone Bridge, a strong whack can be heard, followed by an eruption of cheers.

Men sporting bright purple jerseys rush to the middle of an open field hollering in glee, some jumping into each other’s arms and others pumping their fists in the air. Unbeknownst to the passing joggers who barely spare a glance at the commotion, the Gotham Cricket Club has just secured itself a seemingly impossible victory against Cricket Boss XI.

“This is one of the closest games that we have won,” said Jeevy Singh, an NYU alumnus and player on Gotham CC. “Winning from the point [we were at], it’s like a miracle.” 

This is New York City club cricket. 

What is Cricket?

Cricket can seem like a daunting sport to those who aren’t familiar with it, particularly in the United States, as its rulebook is around 600 pages long. But the 2023 World Atlas states that it is the second-most watched sport in the world. 

The bare bones of the game are that two teams of 11 players face off against each other, each aiming to score the most runs, which consists of two players running to opposite ends of a dirt pitch in the middle of an oval field. Similarly to baseball, one team bats, trying to score runs with a wooden paddle-like bat, and the other fields and bowls, trying to prevent this. The length of games can vary from a few hours to a few days, but New York City club cricket games typically last around four to five hours.

Though national teams like India and Pakistan have made huge names for themselves in the world of cricket, many people don’t know that cricket’s current popularity has its roots in colonialism. Originating in England, cricket became considered a “white man’s sport” that the British would use as a means to highlight the divide between themselves (a self-acclaimed “civilized” people) and the locals indigenous to British colonies.

But over time, cricket transformed into something more than just a mere tool for colonialism. Those indigenous to the British colonies came to master and excel at the sport, and cricket started to represent a defiance against colonial ideals. 

In India, for example, local cricket teams started to form around the 18th century. When these teams began beating white colonizers at their own game, the sport gradually became reframed as a source of national pride and cultural identity for the former colonies. Soon, cricket became central to their way of life. 

Cricket in New York

The sport gained notoriety in a handful of places like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. When people from these areas started immigrating to the United States, they also brought with them their love and passion for cricket.

Local teams began to form across the boroughs between neighborhood friends and expats coming from the same areas such as New Delhi, Antigua, and Guyana, only to name a few. One such club is Gotham CC. 

As the Gotham CC team celebrated their spectacular win, hugging — “Our club can’t believe we won,” said teammate Adeel Paul — and patting each other on the back, only a 45-minute drive away across the Whitestone Bridge stood the nearly completed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

The stadium was being built in preparation for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which ran from June 1 to June 29. This was the International Cricket Council’s ninth edition of the Men’s T20 International cricket tournament, with 20 qualified nation teams participating. Matches were played in the two host nations: the West Indies and, for the first time ever, the United States. 

Once upon a time, cricket used to be widely played in the United States. This dwindled due to a surge of American nationalism following the Civil War, the general public wanting to separate themselves from all things British. With the advent of baseball soon after, cricket gradually fizzled out of the country’s radar. 

Now, it is the immigrant communities — particularly South Asian — in the States that are bringing a new life and meaning to the sport. Coming from India, Singh takes cricket seriously — “cricket is like a religion in India.” His jersey sports the number 77, referencing Shubman Gill, one of his favorite cricketers and neighbors growing up in Chandigarh.

Many, like Singh, who come from areas where cricket is a part of their national identity struggle to find places to play the sport in the States. From a lack of proper fields to shabby facilities, the sport’s invisibility in the American public eye results in heavy underfunding, particularly from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).

This is why cricket players and enthusiasts alike were excited at what this World Cup might mean for the cricket scene in the States. 

“This is going to put cricket on the map,” said Jené le Grange, who played for the women’s South African national team for several years and also plays with local New York teams.  

Decked out with VIP boxes, locker rooms, and fan zones, the Nassau County stadium hosted eight matches, including the most anticipated face off of the World Cup between longtime rivals India and Pakistan on June 9, India ultimately snagging the victory. 

Originally from Pakistan and now living in New Jersey with his family, avid cricket fan Khawaja Ahmed was looking forward to seeing such a significant match. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that so was almost every other cricket fan in the world. “I don’t know one person that actually got a ticket for it,” said le Grange. 

“It’s like the Yankees versus the Red Sox in baseball, or the University of Alabama at Birmingham versus Auburn in football,” said Ahmed. “It’s war.” 

Overcoming Obstacles

Yet the freshly laid turf and state-of-the-art facilities at the Nassau County stadium are nothing but luxuries the teams playing at Ferry Point Park can only dream of. They must make do with a picnic table as their locker room, leaving their gloves, knee pads, and bats strewn across the grass. Throughout the match, players sift through knee-length grass and shrubbery trying to locate the ball and stumble while running on uneven ground. “We should get a sponsored lawnmower,” said Paul.

Bryan Caine has been an American Professional Cricket Umpire for 11 years and umpires for countless New York club cricket matches. He is all too familiar with overgrown fields, scuffed up dirt pitches, and breaking into locked park sheds to access cricket equipment provided by the DPR. Despite these setbacks, he always ensures that the game is played as accurately as possible. “We’re a very particular bunch,” he said. “Our measurements all have to be correct.” 

Le Grange feels that facilities are the biggest obstacle standing in the way of raising the level of New York cricket, noting that improvements to such facilities would also help make cricket more accessible to women. 

She and Gotham CC are trying to encourage more women to try out cricket, and hope to someday establish an all-women’s team at their club. Singh says that the club has already organized a handful of friendly games that women can participate in and are looking to encourage more women to join their team. 

“Yes, we need [better] fields, but also changing rooms, especially for women,” said le Grange. “There’s a lot of things that people don’t think about too, like toilets — guys can go behind the bush, but for us it’s a little bit different.” 

Born and raised in South Africa, le Grange grew up playing cricket in her garden. When she arrived in New York, she came across Gotham CC, and eventually ended up joining their men’s team. Living in the United States, le Grange’s involvement in cricket is either volunteer-based or simply how she spends her free time when she’s not working as a quality data analyst at a hospital. ”I wish someone would pay me to play cricket,” she said. 

“With cricket, there’s a lot of egos going around and it’s difficult finding guys who are comfortable enough with themselves to be able to play with women and not be intimidated, and these guys at Gotham are absolutely amazing,” said le Grange. “Some of the teams that I’ve played against have been complete assholes, but I’m really blessed with this bunch of guys.”

For Singh, Gotham CC is not just a cricket club, but rather more of a social club, one in which he has been able to find a sense of community with like-minded people in the New York area. 

“We are more friends than colleagues,” said Singh. “We look forward not just to play, but also to hang out with one another.”

Though the Nassau County Stadium was taken down after the World Cup matches, the pitch still remains. Neither Gotham CC, nor any other club teams in New York, will ever get the chance to play in the stadium in all its glory. But passing the hours with a couple of Coronas and a plate of food while lamenting with friends about slippery pitches or overgrown grass is what gives New York Club Cricket its heart and soul. 

Follow Gotham Cricket Club on Instagram at  @gothamcricketclub and Bryan Caine at  @brc.cric.ump. To stay up to date on New York club cricket, check out CricClubs for more information. 

Cover: Yogendra Singh / Unsplash

Images Credit: Courtesy of Gotham Cricket Club