Most Spartans haven’t heard of it, but the world’s second most popular sport has a home right here in the Quad Cities. Although baseball is one of America’s most popular pastimes, cricket, a similar sport is more popular around the globe, especially in India, England, Australia and South Africa. Even though this sport is famous all over the world, it hasn’t been able to gain traction in the United States. But since last year, cricket has been played at Pleasant Valley High School as well.

Last spring, a group of students with a passion for cricket decided to start a cricket club at the high school. During regular meetings in Mr. Housman’s room, the group, led by seniors Vishwajit Subramaniam and Mukul Nair, learned and explained the rules of the game to everyone that was interested. “It’s great that we were able to take an exotic sport and bring it to our high school.” says Nair, “I was surprised at the amount of interest we received.” After a few initial meetings, the group then stocked up on all of the equipment that was required to play cricket: bats, balls, gloves, and pads, among other things.

Although cricket seems like a complicated game, it is actually very simple. There are two teams of 11 people that play on a circular field. In the center of the field is a pitch that’s 66 feet by 10 feet. There are wickets on either ends of the pitch. The wickets are three sticks held in the ground. The batting team sends two batsmen who stand on either end of the pitch. The bowling team has a wicketkeeper–similar to a catcher in baseball–that stands behind the wickets. A bowler bowls the ball from the other end of the pitch towards the batsman. The batsmen score runs by hitting the ball and running back and forth between the two wickets or hitting the ball outside the boundary for a four or a six

Over the summer, the cricket club took their interest to another level by joining a local cricket league sponsored by the Friends of India Association Quad Cities. The club members formed a team that would play in matches every Sunday against opposing teams that were comprised of adults that had been in the league for many years. Although the team of high school students wasn’t able to win any of their matches, they were able to hold their own against the best teams in the league. “I’m really proud of the strides we made as a team.” states Subramanian, “We definitely improved as the summer progressed.”

While most Americans don’t see cricket as a popular sport, it is still nice to see Pleasant Valley introducing new sports into the community.