New York sets up schools' cricket league

New York's Department of Education has set up a cricket league with about 600 state secondary-school students expected to take part. Announcing their decision, the department said New York was the first and only state school system in America to offer competitive cricket.

The move came about after Eric Goldstein, who oversees sporting programmes for the city's education department, became aware that more and more people were playing in the city's parks. "The old baseball field I played on in Cunningham Park in Queens is now a cricket pitch. It's amazing," he told the New York Times.

Until now, cricket has been seen as the preserve of Asian and Caribbean immigrants, but this latest move could reintroduce the game to a wider audience. Until World War One cricket was a major sport in the north eastern USA, but it died out as it was seen as elitist and too closely associated with the old colonial ties.

The first cricket stadium in the US was recently opened in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and an inaugural international match is scheduled there next month.