CD 10: Cricket Bowls Over Schools

CD 10: Cricket Bowls Over Schools


Dressed in white with their long, paddle-shaped bats in hand, Aviation High School’s inaugural cricket team prepares for a match against DeWitt Clinton High in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Jamaican Patois, and Guyanese Creole fill the air as warm-ups begin.

These are the sounds of cricket in New York City, which last April became the first school district in the United States to introduce cricket as a varsity sport. The game is one of the most enduring legacies of the British Empire – and it’s found new life in 16 city high schools made up primarily of students of South Asian and Caribbean descent. The young athletes see the game as a continuation of the cultural traditions their parents instilled in them.

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