Cricket: A Gentleman's Game

What could be better than baseball? A nice clean game of cricket, according to a few enthusiasts who’ve formed their own club.

"It’s a perfect gentleman's sport,” said Manish Lodaya, president of the Boyds Cricket Club. “The players use stamina and technique without the need to touch each other like the American version, baseball. It’s also another sport that can give local children exposure to something different.”

The Boyds Cricket Club is part of the Washington Cricket League and often practices on a temporary field in Clarksburg. The privately funded team is part of 36 other clubs in the area, Lodaya said.

Cricket, which dates back to 16^th century England, is a game of two 11-player teams and involves a ball and bat to score.

During practice in Clarksburg, players seemed determined to master pitching and hitting skills. Special bats are essential to the type of hitting similar to a baseball, though there are subtle differences. Each player has a rotation to hit and pitch. The player who pitches tries to put a spin the ball, which must bounce on the platform before it is hit. Once the ball makes contact with the bat, watch out for where it winds up — the spin could make that ball fly in an unexpected pattern and not the usual straight line.

But unlike other sports, the cricket club doesn’t have a dedicated field. Lodaya said he’s already provided funds to cover construction costs for the temporary field in Clarksburg and that there would be additional costs to remove the cement areas, once developers are ready to claim the land for an elementary school.