Catherine Rusoff
Bowie, Maryland — On a field in Bowie, Maryland, a group of children are playing a game unfamiliar to most Americans, cricket.
“When I first started playing, my mom was like, ‘girl, what are you doing?’” 13-year-old Jordyn Hinkle-Walker said.
Hinkle-Walker had never heard of the game until three years ago, when coach Sham Chotoo brought cricket into her classroom.
“I called the principal and said, ‘Hey, I’d like to come to the school and do a cricket demonstration,’” Chotoo told CBS News.
And the students’ reaction was immediate.
“It was crazy,” Chotoo said. “You see they would be so excited and all their faces would light up.”
Chotoo grew up playing in Trinidad and Tobago and has made it his mission to share the sport in the United States since moving here 30 years ago.
“At that time, it was mainly the immigrant population who played cricket,” Chotoo said. “It was a fun way to get together.”
So, when she had children, Chotoo wanted to share this piece of her culture with them.
“And I said, well, why don’t I start a cricket program here,” Chotoo said.
This program became the first elementary school cricket league in the US. Now, more than a decade later, its program has 86 teams and more than 1,000 children playing cricket.
Across the country, the sport is exploding from coast to coast. According to USA Cricket, the sport’s governing body, more than 400 leagues have opened in America, with more than 200,000 players and counting.
“It really is a watershed moment for cricket in this country,” said cricket reporter Smit Patel.
Patel predicts more aggressive growth of the sport in the US Last year, Major League Cricket debuted in the US and cricket will be featured at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It’s the second most practiced sport in the world,” said Patel. “The potential is immense.”
This month, for the first time, the USA co-hosts and competes in the International Cricket Council Men’s Championship T20 World Cup.
“I believe the World Cup will act as a catalyst, in the same way the FIFA World Cup acted as a catalyst in 1994,” Patel said.
And on Thursday, the US made major headlines when it achieved a surprising and disturbing defeat of Pakistan. And on Sunday, India and Pakistan will face each other in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, a $30 million, 34,000-seat temporary stadium built for the T20 World Cup.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
So now, with the world watching and a path to becoming professionals here in America, young cricketers can dream bigger than ever.
“Now I can say, you know what, you can be a professional cricket player, you can make a living playing in the Major League Cricket program here in the United States,” Chotoo said.
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