First-ever tournament played in Cornwall Saturday
There was lots of activity at Cornwall’s Laurel Crest Park this past Saturday — from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., quite literally — as the Cornwall Recreation Department and the Cornwall Cricket Club hosted the first ever ‘Cricket Introduction Cup’, a tournament of a sport most locals have never watched.
About 80 players took part in the tournament, from all over the region. Cornwall’s team — captained by Nick Patel and Deep Shah — was instrumental in organizing and running the tournament. It also featured the New York Wolves, the Royal Knights, the Spartans, the Bulls United, the Cowboys, Shreeji and the Striking Panthers … and it was those Royal Knights who emerged the big winners!
There were no hard feelings by the local team though — organizers called it a great day. On social media (the Cornwall Cricket Club has a Facebook page) they were lauded by the other teams and spectators for having run a fantastic tournament.
“It was really an amazing day,” Patel said, “really fun. For most of the teams it was their first time in Cornwall and they want to come back!”
In addition to the Town of Cornwall, it was sponsored by local businesses including Chase Bank, Subway, Namaste India, Cafe Spice, Sunny Travels, Citrus, NY Life Insurance, Narayan Seva and BP Gas.
Cornwall’s cricket club is relatively new, but made up of members from Cornwall, New Windsor and Newburgh who have been playing together for the last five years or so on an Orange County team. They formed their own team as numbers grew.
Early in the day, Cornwall Supervisor Josh Wojehowski, Councilwoman Rokhsha Michael-Razi and Recreation Director Phylis Murphy stopped by to not only watch a game, but also to get a little lesson in the sport. (They did not appear to know in advance that they’d be getting that lesson, but, did well at bat!)
“We very much appreciate the town’s support,” Patel said, “especially that they recognize the diversity of people in town.”
Wojehowski said creating the cricket pitch at Laurel Crest was something he is proud of, and noted that it did not affect the field for other uses such as youth soccer. On Saturday, he said he is glad to see the field being used by many groups.
So, about cricket. It’s is a sport played at the amateur, club, intercollegiate and international competition levels. Here, it’s played May through September or early October, weather permitting.-
The game itself is a bat-and-ball game played on an oval, grassy ground (at Laurel Crest they used a thick strip of vinyl cord to delineate the field). In the middle is a narrow strip, called the pitch, with wooden wickets at either end. The batter stands at one end, and the pitcher throws from the other end of the pitch — the ball is a very hard tennis ball.
You may or may not know that there is a Major League Cricket (MLC) organization, a professional Twenty20 cricket league played in the U.S. (www.usacricket.org). There are both men’s and women’s teams, and in 2024 some of the World Cricket Cup games will be played in New York City, in partnership with the West Indies.
Anyone who is interested in learning more about cricket is welcome at a Cornwall Cricket Club practice on a Saturday, stop by or message Patel via the Facebook page! He and his teammates are looking forward to teaching more folks about their favorite sport!
