Children's Pressline: Going Batty over Cricket
With influx of West Indian and South Asian families, PS 108 starts first club
Tuesday, July 24th 2007, 4:00 AM
Amanda Manick, 10, is at bat.
Bryan Hanif hurls a ball during practice at PS 108.
Wickets, stumps and googlies are making their way into Queens' schoolyards, but even though these words may sound straight out of a Harry Potter novel, put down the boy wizard books − and pick up a cricket manual.
With an influx of West Indian immigrants, cricket has arrived and is growing in many Queens neighborhoods and schools.
"Cricket is better than basketball," said Amanda Manick, 10, captain of the cricket team at Public School 108 in Ozone Park. The elementary school is the first in Queens to offer cricket to students. "You get to run a lot and exercise a lot," said Amanda, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, where her parents often played cricket.
The neighborhood children's obsession with cricket stems from their Trinidadian, Guyanese and South Asian families, who brought a renewed interest in the sport to America.
"I like batting and bowling people," said Puran Mangal, 12, another PS 108 student who was referring to positions on a cricket team.
When PS 108 teacher Ranjit Singh saw an increase in the popularity of cricket, he started a school club. "The team aspect of it is very appealing because students can [use] it off the field," Singh said.
Most kids had already learned the basics of cricket from parents and relatives, making it easier for coaches to teach them the skills necessary to play. Singh, the cricket club adviser, continues to assist the kids on how to play cricket and also brings them closer to their roots. "We are hoping cricket will be popular with a majority of West Indians and South Asians," Singh said.
Cricket, which originated in England in the 17th century, spread through many colonies.
"Most of the kids who are playing cricket now in America are from the Caribbean and India," said Linden Fraser, a regional coach at the International Cricket Council. Cricket shares some similarities with its American counterpart, baseball, with innings, fielders and batters, but that is where the similarities end. In cricket, each team usually has 11 players, and games can last from seven hours to a couple of days.
The International Cricket Council, founded at the height of cricket's popularity in 1965, has become a leading group in the cricket world.
"People come together through all ethnic groups. It will help the kids in their daily lives. You have to be physically and mentally fit to play this sport," said Fraser, who was a player on the national Guyanese cricket team.
Fraser is now trying to obtain more sponsorship for cricket in America. "We need sponsorship if we want this sport to become mainstream," Fraser said.
The PS 108 program meets twice a week for an hour and a half and is usually played in the school gymnasium. The gym is not big enough to play properly because a traditional cricket field is 100-160 yards across. There are no other elementary cricket programs yet, so the team of 30 plays among themselves. Parents have started to become a part of the program as well through volunteering.
At the moment, Amanda is happy playing cricket for her school, but she has aspirations of taking her skills to the next level. "I want to continue to play cricket as I get older — maybe even professionally," she said.
Additional reporting by Sue Chen, Samantha Shokin, Adam Thometz and Sana Venjara
