US kids pitch for cricket, start league in New York

CRICKET WOOS BIG APPLE: Love of cricket has American kids ditching their baseball mitts for cricket balls.

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New York: The gentlemen’s game is slowly but surely catching up with students in the United States.

Impressed by the growing number of youngsters following the game, a cricket league has been set up in schools in New York.

"They're so excited just to play cricket. In five years, it’s going to be one of the most popular sports in America," Cricket Commissioner of Public Schools Athletic League in New York, Bassett Thompson, forecasts.

In a city known for the Yankees baseball team, school kids are being encouraged to fling their mitts and pick up a cricket ball.

“There's an entire international community out there that so many Americans don't know about. I thought that entering that international community myself to see what's it like would be fascinating,” high school kid Angus Armstrong explains.

The game has definitely got a fillip here, largely because of the large South Asian and Caribbean immigrants.

John Mitchell from Trinidad may not exactly set the park on fire like Brian Lara but he is just thrilled to play his favourite game.

"I asked them if we could have a cricket team because I heard they made it a PSAL sport now. So I got all the names of all the people that wanted to play and here we are today," Captain, Automative High School Cricket League, John Mitchell says.

The game may have a long way to go in the United states but with a brand new cricket stadium in Florida, these cricketers may soon be living their dream.