It’s Cricket in the valley
By Dana Bartholomew
Staff Writer
Published: August 1, 2004 Los Angeles Daily News
VAN NUYS – The batsman took a full toss and sent a fly ball whizzing over the bowler’s head straight into the arms of a eucalyptus tree.
In baseball terms, he just hit it out of the park. But in cricket terms at the final match of the second Los Angeles Open cricket tournament on Sunday, he’d just “hit a six” for six instant runs.
“C’mon … concentrate, con centrate!,” howled Trinidad native Ron Ramcharitar, 48, of Granada Hills as the Trinidad & Tobago national team battled the Punjab Blues of the Sepulveda Basin Cricket Fields in Van Nuys.
“Your ass is grass, dude!”
Trinidad would beat the Blues 124-122, ending three days of intense competition at what many consider to be the best cricket grounds in North America.
Twelve teams from Van Nuys to the West Indies – including eight players from as far away as India – slugged it out before an estimated 4,000 fans who sat in the shade sampling free tea, curry and “saffron silk” ice cream.
And for three days, the Woodley Park fields wore the look of the former British Empire.
“It’s like a melting pot of ex-British colonies – Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, South Africans, Brits, Australians, Canadians, West Indians,” said Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, regional director of the U.S.A. Cricket Association.
“For an up-and-coming sport, we’re like the next soccer.”
Cricket, an English game with roots in the 14th century, hardly competes with America’s national pastime. But with 1,500 players in Los Angeles County and 12,000 registered nationwide, cricketers are hoping to build the ranks.
The four fields at Woodley Park host 20 local teams.
But while baseball centers on home plate, cricket action erupts from the middle of a 150-yard pitch, or field, where two strikers with heavy flat bats surrounded by fielders take turns guarding wickets and racking up runs into the hundreds.
And what may appear to be a genteel sport to most Americans – with umpires wearing Panama-style hats and ties – is in fact a bare-knuckles sport played with the gloves off.
“Bowls,” or pitches thrown overhand, can hit 100 mph. Two-inning games can last for days. Broken bones are common. And yes, spitballs are legal.
But though it may take Americans time to learn the meaning of such terms as “bowling a maiden over,” “cow corner,” and “howzat?” some say they’re beginning to get the hang of the world’s second-most popular sport behind soccer.
Organizers of the Los Angeles Open say tournament prize money jumped from $4,000 last year to $15,000 this year. They soon hope to hit $100,000 to draw more international team play to the San Fernando Valley.
“Americans are now getting into it; it’s starting to catch on,” said Ashok Patel, manager of the U.S.A. Cricket Academy of New Jersey, whose team lost to the Blue Punjab this weekend.
“It’s a gentleman’s game – there’s no violence, no swearing, no bad language, no fights. It’s all first class.”
Few on Sunday seemed to enjoy undermining the English order more than the team from Trinidad & Tobago.
“The British taught us how to play cricket more than 100 years ago,” joked Ram Ramchantar, 55, of Granada Hills, “and now the West Indian team is teaching the British how to win.”
“We attack, like showtime for the Lakers,” added Kamaldin Rajab, 38, of Downey. “We play with style. We play to please the crowd.”
(Courtesy: Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer, Los Angeles Daily News)
