Ready, Set, Play Cricket!

With players hailing from such countries as Pakistan, Jamaica and Bangladesh, one of the city's best high school cricket teams is right in Prospect Heights.

Cricket isn’t widely known in the U.S., but in some Brooklyn neighborhoods, it's huge, thanks to the city's many immigrants from the Caribbean, the Indian Subcontinent, and other cricket-loving areas.

Over the past few years, cricket love has spread to the high schools, and more than two dozen now host varsity cricket teams including the co-ed varsity team at Prospect Heights Campus, the school at 883 Classon Avenue that houses four small high schools.

Now in its fourth year as a team, Prospect Heights' squad is filled exclusively by teens who have played cricket all their lives. 

“Growing up in Bangladesh, it’s every kid's dream to become a professional cricket player,” said senior Mesbah Uddin. “l grew up playing the sport in the backyard or watching Bangladesh play against Pakistan on television.”

At a practice in preparation for their season opener last week, the team worked intensively on running and conditioning in the school gym before moving into a series of batting and bowling drills.

With friendly banter and jokes throughout the practice, Uddin says that the team morale is high for this season.

"A lot of us on the team know each other and get along well, so it makes practicing fun for us," said Uddin. "We're all committed to working hard and seeing how far we can go this year."

Members of the Prospect Heights Campus cricket team, who come from countries including Bangladesh, Guyana and Jamaica, say early exposure to the sport is an extreme advantage when competing against other schools.

“You get kids who come in having never played before and end up becoming pretty good. But the best players in the league all come from backgrounds where cricket is a part of the culture,” said senior Ushane Miller, who was born in Jamaica.

Samuel Welch, coach of the Prospect Heights Campus cricket team, said that the Public Schools Athletic League kicked off its first cricket season in 2008 with 14 teams, which has since expanded to 26. The teams are split up among one division for the Bronx and two divisions each for Queens and Brooklyn.

The Prospect Heights Campus team has consistently been one of the stronger teams in the borough, having reached the city playoffs in 2008 and 2009. However, in 2010 the team finished with a losing record, he said.

Junior Jamal Warner, who grew up in Guyana, says that the squad suffered from a lack of team unity last year, but that they have since regrouped and become more focused during practices.

“It was easy to find people who were interested in the sport and wanted to play in the games, but they didn’t want to come to practice and put in the work beforehand,” said Warner. “We were rusty out in the field as a result, but there’s much more of a team effort this season.”

The team practices are rigorous, with sessions lasting two hours each day after school. In addition, all players are required to pass all of their classes in order to compete during the season. 

However, there are some modifications to the traditional game of cricket in order to make it high school friendly. While cricket matches are known for lasting several days in some cases, Uddin says their matches typically last around four hours.

“We use the Twenty20 format, which is the shortest form of cricket match,” said Uddin. “Each team has a single inning, and they bat for a maximum of 20 overs," (an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession).

Competing on the cricket team comes at a minimal cost to the students, who are only required to pay for their uniforms. Uddin says they typically come up with the money by selling candy or other fundraising methods.

With a 1-0 record as of press time, Miller says the team hopes to make it back into the playoffs this season.

"It was really upsetting to us that we didn't get to go last year," said Miller. "We feel like we belong there and can go even further this time."