Youth cricket gains ground in Maryland

They’re also the kinds of things you would hear at a cricket match, along with “Wait, how many overs are there?” and “There are four bowls and one out.”
Youth cricket growing
In the past couple of years, the game of cricket has been growing in popularity among Maryland kids. Next week, six coed youth cricket teams from the Maryland Youth Cricket Association will meet at the first Maryland Youth Cricket Championship. It will be the first state youth cricket competition in the country, according to Jamie Harrison, who helped found the United States Youth Cricket Association.
The Maryland association plans to add two more teams to the group next year.
Bowlers and batsmen
At a recent match early on a Sunday morning, the Germantown Kids Cricket Club challenged the Bowie Girls and Boys Club, playing on part of a baseball field. A regular cricket field, called the cricket ground, is oval-shaped; the main part of the ground is known as the pitch, a rectangular space between two wickets, sets of three upright sticks that are a key part of the game. The two wickets in this youth match stood 48 feet apart.
“I started playing cricket with my dad four or so years ago,” said Kshitij (sounds like “shi-TEEJ”) Gupta, 13, who was sitting on the bench while his team, GKCC, played defense. “I like the bowling better than the baseball pitching,” said Kshitij, who will be in eighth grade at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown this fall.
In cricket, the bowler is like the pitcher in baseball. He or she throws the ball to a batsman, who tries to hit the ball. The bowler can get the batsman out by throwing the ball so that it hits the wicket behind the batsman. Unlike baseball and its pitchers, cricket teams change their bowlers often during each match.
A cricket team puts two batsmen on the field at the same time. Each stands at a wicket, but only one bats. When a batsman hits the ball, both batsmen have to make it to the other wicket to score a run.
Eleven players from the opposing team try to stop the runs and get an out by catching the ball or getting the ball to one of the wickets while the runners are still in the pitch. It’s sort of like getting the ball to home plate so a runner can’t score in baseball. In cricket, however, the batsmen can keep running back and forth between the wickets, scoring multiple runs while the fielders are working to get an out.
More runs, more fun
“In cricket, you get more recognition,” said Chimwemwe Chinkuyu, 10, who will be a fifth-grader at Heather Hills Elementary School in Bowie this fall and who was playing for the Bowie team. “Because when you hit, you can score more.” In professional cricket matches, teams score hundreds of runs each.
Aaron Slack, 9, started playing cricket with his best friend, who is from India, where cricket is very popular. Now he plays with the Bowie team.
“There are only two bases, so you get to score more so you get congratulated more,” said Aaron, soon to be a fifth-grader at Yorktown Elementary School in Bowie.