125 years of cricket in New York
The Staten Island field in New York may not have quite the same pedigree as Lord’s or Eden Gardens, but cricket has been played there for well over a century
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
The Staten Island field in New York may not have quite the same pedigree as Lord’s or Eden Gardens, but cricket has been played there for well over a century. Last month the Staten Island Cricket Club took on a visiting team from Merion, Pennsylvania in a rematch of the first game played at the ground almost 125 years ago. Writing in the New York Times, Alan Feuer pays tribute to the enduring nature of this cricketing outpost.
It was, as people said all day, approaching the 125th year of continual cricket at the field, once a portion of the Delafield estate but now owned by the city and known as Walker Park. The players who came out that day were not the British officers of yore, but Bangladeshi cabbies, Indian computer engineers and a Pakistani man who owns an auto-body shop. The Ladies’ Outdoor Amusement Club was not on hand to administer refreshments. Instead, there was D.J. Ralphie, of the so-called Chutney Bastards, blasting rowdy soca from a laptop.
“This is a momentous occasion,” said Clarence Modeste, president of the Staten Island squad. Mr. Modeste, a tall, slim man who is 80 and a native of Tobago, recognized the afternoon with a heartfelt introduction delivered to the teams, both dressed in their blazers and lined up facing one another on the field.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo