Stars, Stripes and Stumps
Twenty20: the weekday wonder
In Chicago in early 2002, some members of the Midwest Cricket Conference decided that one 40-over game per week, on either Saturday or Sunday, wasn't sufficient cricket
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
In Chicago in early 2002, some members of the Midwest Cricket Conference decided that one 40-over game per week, on either Saturday or Sunday, wasn't sufficient cricket. So they decided on a week-night, 25-overs a side tournament, running parallel to the weekend 40-over competition. Thus was born the Night Tournament, which in 2005 was named after Abid Laheri, a beloved player in the league who passed away after suffering a heart attack on the field during a pre-season practice game. The venue was a floodlit community ground in the western suburb of Hanover Park. Matches would start at 5.30 pm, after the work day was over, and last until 9.30. Of course, with night cricket came coloured uniforms and white balls, which distinguished the parallel tournament from the white clothing, red ball, weekend games, and gave it that extra oomph.
The Twenty20 format became popular in international cricket only in the second half of the 2000s, by when the Midwest Cricket Conference in Chicago was already experiencing the Twenty20 revolution. In 2005, the 25-over competition was reduced to 20 overs a side. By then it had become immensely popular and continues to be so. It was perhaps the first league in the US to have an inter-club Twenty20 competition (it started off as 25-overs a side, but still) and that too, played at night!
The ALNT even drew crowds of 50-100 per game, mostly other players in the league, the most one can hope for in amateur cricket anywhere. In contrast, the only spectators at the weekend league games were the poor wives of the newly-weds. This was because on a weekend, most players had their own game to play, at one of the dozen venues around Chicago. The few that had a bye weekend had better things to do than sit in the sun and watch others play. On week nights though, there was only one game in town, since there was only one floodlit venue available. There wasn't anything else to do for the other cricket-lovers, apart from watch sitcoms or depressing news from Iraq.
Full postBatting for baseball
Two weeks ago, my blogging colleague Samarth Shah dedicated a post to the Woodley fields in Los Angeles
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
Two weeks ago, my blogging colleague Samarth Shah dedicated a post to the Woodley fields in Los Angeles. But it was a line in the post that had nothing to do with Woodley that solicited the most responses.
“Most cricket grounds in the USA are shared with amateur soccer or baseball clubs,” wrote Shah. “Those wusses - especially at the amateur level - want thick grass in the outfield.”
Yesterday, I was listening to the WEPN 1050-AM ESPN Radio station in my car, the same station that carries World Series broadcasts between the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers, when I heard an ad come across the airwaves from the Barbados Tourism Board. In the spot, a voice waxes poetic about Kensington Oval and how it has “played host to some of the world’s greatest bowlers, batsmen, fielders and allrounders, some who might be considered on par with even baseball’s best players.”
Full postCaptain a club side? No thank you
It is said that wicketkeeping and umpiring are the most thankless tasks in cricket
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
It is said that wicketkeeping and umpiring are the most thankless tasks in cricket. I haven't kept wickets at any level, except backyard cricket, but I imagine it *is* an extremely demanding job. Mentally, it requires intense concentration over long periods of time. Physically, it requires both fitness and agility. At least in the past, wicketkeepers didn't need batting averages like those of top-order batsmen. But the likes of Gilchrist and Sangakkara have tacked on that requirement as well, to the wicketkeeper's already intimidating job-description. So I'm glad I'm not a wicketkeeper, and I salute the wicketkeepers of the world.
As for umpiring, this might cost me a few lbw decisions, but I'll go out on a limb and say that I don't think it's particularly demanding, at least in club cricket. In international cricket, a lot of pressure on the umpires comes from the crowd noise affecting concentration, and the fact that TV replays ruthlessly and instantly expose umpiring errors. No such pressure in club cricket. Leave alone giving the odd dodgy LBW, I once let an over run to 8 balls simply because I got caught up in watching the bowler: a fellow left-arm spinner with a nice, smooth action. Big deal. A yell from the scorer, a call of over, and the matter was buried. Such a lapse in international cricket would've made the umpire a laughing stock. In club cricket, umpiring errors are not heavily scrutinised.
I've umpired my share of club games, and I don't agree with umpires in club cricket who describe their task as a thankless one. In 5 of the 7 leagues I have played in, in 3 different countries, the umpires were actually paid. Albeit not much, but the players themselves were *paying* to play. In some leagues, the host team was required to provide lunch to both the umpire and the opposition. Every captain I've ever known has made it a point to say "Thank you" to the umpire at the end of the game. So how is umpiring in club cricket a thankless job? I'm not saying it's an easy job. Mentally again, it requires virtually the same level of concentration as wicketkeeping. But physically, it is a walk in the park, quite literally! Overall, I just don't see it as being as hard as being an all-rounder, a fast bowler, or that electric fielder in the circle.
Full postThe weekend Transformers
The other day, my wife and I were tolerating the latest shock from the Transformers trilogy within the comfort of our living room, when it struck me
Chuckworthy
25-Feb-2013
The other day, my wife and I were tolerating the latest shock from the Transformers trilogy within the comfort of our living room, when it struck me. Of course, by “it”, I don’t mean Optimus Prime or one of its kith. I mean it struck me – the “it” that strikes you out of your stupor and into some meaningless realization.
I thought to myself, “Cricketers in the US are Transformers themselves, no?”
Not the type that run our electric can openers and iron boxes, although they do charge themselves up into a frenzy and conduct this sport in all its glory, weekend after weekend.
I was thinking more along the lines of taxi drivers from Brooklyn, investment bankers from Wall Street, gas station attendants from the Bronx, attorneys from New Jersey, IT consultants from every nook and cranny of the US and even a hat-seller from Manhattan all transforming from weekday wannabes to amped up amateurs on their off days. And like their on-screen counterparts, these transformations come replete with tires sticking out from their sides too. And in both cases, these tires serve as iconic reminders of the comfortable cushion that is their untransformed existence.
Full postOff-season fun
It strikes me as odd that the US National Championships, which should be the pinnacle of the season, are held six to seven weeks after the regular season has ended in most local leagues in the US
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
October. The start of autumn. A very beautiful time of the year here in the USA, with mild temperatures, colourful foliage, and brilliant sunsets. October also marks the end of the summer cricket season in most of the USA. For myself and a few others though, the season continues. There are no games left, no scheduled club team practices, but there is the small matter of the USA National Championships at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, between November 19 and 21. I was fortunate to have been selected to represent the Northwest Region, runners-up of the USA Western Conference this year, at the National Championships. The other three teams involved will be the Southwest Region (winners of the USA Western Conference), the New York Region (winners of the USA Eastern Conference), and the Atlantic Region (runners-up of the USA Eastern Conference). New York Region are defending champions, and have won the national championship several times over the last decade. We are clearly the underdogs.
It strikes me as odd that the US National Championships, which should be the pinnacle of the season, are held six to seven weeks after the regular season has ended in most local leagues in the US. But I'm not complaining. In the US, any cricket is good, at any time and in any place. If the best players in the country are meeting at the best venue, the time of year is irrelevant. The weather in Florida in November is terrific anyway, provided it's not raining. I was in Florida during the same time, last year, for the USA national team trials, and I had a ball, so to speak.
My team, the Northwest Region, comprises players from three different metropolitan areas along the west coast of the USA: the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California, Portland in Oregon, and Seattle in Washington state. The distance between the homes of the northern-most and southern-most player in our team is 850 miles. That's roughly the distance from Mumbai to Delhi in India, or twice the distance between Glasgow and Southampton in the United Kingdom. None of the other teams at the USA National Championships are spread out over this large an area. Furthermore, one of our players is currently playing first-grade cricket in Australia.
Full postThe lighter side of injuries
The incident triggered some memories for me as I thought about the times I’ve been on a field when an injury has occurred and how people reacted
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
Last Sunday, I was covering a cricket fundraiser in New York that served as a warm-up game for the region’s Under-19 and men’s squad members before their departure, in a few weeks, for the national championships in Florida. The game was meandering along towards a dreary conclusion in fading light when one of the teenagers, who was bowling, former USA Under-15 player Amarnauth Persaud, was struck in the neck by the ball after he couldn’t get his hands up in time for a return catch.
It was a frightening scene and the match was immediately called off. Everyone handled themselves quite well in the circumstances, and the young man is reportedly doing fine.
The incident triggered some memories for me as I thought about the times I’ve been on a field when an injury has occurred and how people have reacted. The injuries themselves were never funny, but the reactions surrounding them could be viewed as somewhat comical.
Full postThe conflict of interest
Much like my childhood, my current existence in New York is largely spent wondering why the mere existence of three professional indoor-cricket nets within a 50-mile radius is not enough for my cricket buddies to plan their life around net sessions
Chuckworthy
25-Feb-2013
Much like my childhood, my current existence in New York is largely spent wondering why the mere existence of three professional indoor-cricket nets within a 50-mile radius is not enough for my cricket buddies to plan their life around net sessions. The heat from Mother Nature has given way to the heat these guys get from the mother of their children for spending too much of themselves on cricket.
But c’est la vie and c’est la cricket.
I am constantly trying to scam my way into batting and bowling in those nets, sometimes even with strangers, on weekday evenings. But let me not drag you there. So what if I am lonely.
I have even tried to find jobs in some of these establishments. What diabolism! I would be surrounded by cricketers and every moment spent there is potentially the one when I finally bowl my first outswinger or play my first flick along the ground. But the owners and operators of said establishments scoff at that type of thing. Something about ‘conflict of interest’, to which I say “bfzzftptz”. Goes better with the face and gestures I am making now.
Full postThe nicest park in Van Nuys
I first played at Woodley Park in 2001, when I was working as a summer intern programmer in a suburb of Los Angeles
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
I first played at Woodley Park in 2001, when I was working as a summer intern programmer in a suburb of Los Angeles. My innocuous left-arm orthodox spin was hammered for 1 for 66 in 8 overs. But I loved it ... the grounds I mean, not the hammering. The one batsman I dismissed lbw didn't think it was out.
Recently I had the opportunity to play once again at Woodley Park during the USA Western Conference Championships. Not much had changed: I still got hammered, and a batsman I dismissed lbw still didn't think it was out. Once again, though, I loved it. In the intervening years, I got married and became a full-time code-monkey. I also made several trips to Los Angeles during those years, to play cricket there. I participated in a previous edition of the Western Conference Championships, in the LA Open T20 competition, and represented the USA Western Region against the visiting Marylebone Cricket Club squad, all at Woodley Park. I didn't get hammered every time, but I loved it every single time.
I consider the Woodley Park cricket grounds the best cricket facility west of Toronto, Canada. Personally, I rate it over Brockton Point in Stanley Park, Vancouver, where I've also had the pleasure of playing. Brockton Point was actually rated by Sir Don Bradman in 1932 as the "prettiest" cricket venue he'd ever played at. I don't disagree. Who am I to disagree with the Don? It may be the prettiest, no doubt, but that's different from being the best. Allow me to explain.
To me, the foremost attraction of the four cricket grounds (Marder, Wong, Wright, and Severn) in Woodley Park in Los Angeles' Van Nuys suburb, is turf wickets. Apart from Woodley Park, turf wickets can only be found in the USA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a mere 2700 miles away. (There's a new facility coming up in Cupertino, California, with turf wickets, but I'm told that's only a practice facility.) No turf wickets at Stanley Park. Cricket is played everywhere in the USA and Canada, but largely on artificial turf.
Full postMy identity in American cricket
People often ask me why I show up to cover cricket matches wearing a kangaroo skin Outback hat
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
People often ask me why I show up to cover cricket matches wearing a kangaroo skin Outback hat. I typically respond, “Well, I know it’s really hard to pick me out of the crowd, so I just try to make it easier for people to find me by wearing something that’s easy to identify.” The joke is that it’s easy to find me not because of the hat but because I’m almost always the only white person at the ground.
Cricket in America is a game that is extremely diverse in one sense, and not at all in another. The game is played all across the country by tens of thousands of people with South Asian and West Indian heritage. Both groups are typically underrepresented in baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey. One of the only professional athletes of South Asian origin playing in a major professional sports league in the USA is Manny Malhotra of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, and he’s actually Canadian.
Conversely, in American amateur cricket, there is practically zero representation among the country’s ethnic majority. Opponents are often shocked upon seeing me stride to the crease. After the fielding side breaks their huddle at the fall of the previous wicket, I’ll hear a few players giggling to each other while blurting out some variation of, “Dekho! Dekho! Voh gora hai!” as if they’ve never seen one before. But in reality, they probably haven’t, at least not at a match in America.
As a reporter, getting to meet and interact with so many people in the South Asian and West Indian communities is enlightening. As a player, not getting many opportunities to play because of the parochial nature of these groups is downright frustrating. Occasionally though, that frustration can turn to a source of amusement for myself and my friends, both in and out of the cricket community.
Full post