- A Park Filled with Cricket: Friends Sporting Club enjoys cricket in Manchester’s Alexandra Park
- The Journey of Cricket: Kerala community travels across the country to play limited-over tournaments
- Cricket as Essence: A sense of community and friendship in cricket matches in Wheatsheaf Common, Woking
The day after midsummer is warm and pleasant at nine o’clock, the sun is still up, and Alexandra Park in Manchester is bustling with activity. A group of vivacious twentysomethings spikes the volleyball over the netting as a flock of parakeets settles into the trees.
On the many paths, people stroll about a man walks three nippy chihuahuas, a little girl in a floral dress wobbles past on her bike with stabilizers, her parents shout encouragement, and a group of young women in headscarves sit on the swings in the children’s playground and converse. On a lakeside picnic platform, a man is charging individuals to play chess. A young child nearby pulls crumbs from his pockets to feed the ducks.
On the near side of the park, however, one object predominates. A sizable group of Friends Sporting Club members is playing, spectating, practicing, standing, or conversing about cricket close to the pavilion. “We were eight or ten people from the same community back in Kerala,” says Ramki, the chairman. Since 2005, we have played cricket together in this park on an Astroturf pitch. Our spouses are both nurses.
After a couple of years, the council excavated the pitch because it had become unusable. As a result, the companions, left with nowhere to play, traveled throughout the country to compete in limited-over tournaments, primarily with other Keralans and won many of them.
But they aspired to play in a legitimate division, not, as Ramki puts it, “this slam-bang cricket.”
“Thank goodness, the ECB and the council invested £1.2 million in the field, pavilion, and cafe, and we were one of the first bidders for the park’s use,” he says. We entered the GMC league with only one team, but now have the capacity for three.
Cricket appears to consume the majority of Ramki’s time when he is not working as a member of the Red Cross’s financial team and adjusting his schedule to transport juvenile colts to matches. Monday is the under-15s, Tuesday is a day off, Wednesday is the under-18s or under-11s, Thursday and Friday are training days, Saturday morning is the All Stars, Saturday afternoon I umpire the senior game, Sunday morning I take the under-13s to a game, and Sunday afternoon I go to a game as a scorer, player, or umpire, depending on what is needed. My wife has abandoned me.”
Felix, a left-handed opener, and Noel, a rapid bowler, are practicing after completing their GCSEs. Felix was among the first class of juniors, while Noel entered seventh grade. Noel states, “We are here nearly every week during the cricket season.” There is a strong sense of community and friendship, and there are opportunities to socialize. It is extremely essential to us as a respite from everything.
Two and a half weeks later, as spectators leave Headingley in disbelief, a group of young men plays an active game with a softball in a corner of Wheatsheaf Common, Woking, more than 200 miles to the south. 21-year-old Tareque Adil immigrated to the United Kingdom from Bangladesh as a student; now 34 and married with two children, he works in a home for people with cognitive difficulties.
“We have played in this park every Sunday for the past 12 years. Numerous participants join us, the majority of whom are from Bangladesh, but occasionally Pakistanis and Indians also participate.
“We adore cricket, but there are few resources in Bangladesh. We play in the street, on the roof, which is roughly 30 feet by 30 feet, and if the ball leaves the roof, you are eliminated. This is more than a pastime to us; it is our very essence. Because we adore it so much, we find solace in it. People in our nation use it as medicine.”
Adil mentors several adolescents, and he wishes for their success. “It would be incredible if I could advance one of my players to county cricket or national cricket.”
Despite the shortcomings of English cricket, which are set bare in stark detail in the ICEC report, the sport survives and thrives far from the Long Room, the Western Terrace, pricey tickets, and corporate sponsorship. People who enjoy the game will find a way to play together, with or without the structure of a club team. If English cricket can correctly embrace this grassroots passion, it will become more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
