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As the number of immigrants in London has grown, so has the popularity of a sport that is otherwise a niche sport: cricket. Over the past two decades, Subhash Sharma, president of the Forest City Riders Cricket Club and a member of the Big Bash London League, has been at the forefront. He spoke to The Free Press about everything Londoners need to know.

A GAME HE LOVES

Sharma says there are two cricket leagues in London, including the Big Bash London League. He estimates there are a total of 1,300 players in the city.

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He started playing the sport as a teenager in India, where he says, “Cricket is not a game, it’s a religion” – something that might sound familiar to hockey players who grew up in Canada. Sharma later played for his university team and competed at the state level in India before moving to London two decades ago.

CRICKET IN LONDON

The history of cricket in London is thought to date back to at least 1856, when the London Cricket Club was founded. In recent years, the sport has seen a huge rise in popularity in the city, which Sharma attributes to London’s growing population and the sport’s popularity among immigrants from countries where it is most popular, such as India and the West Indies.

The Big Bash London League, now in its second year, is one of two cricket leagues in London. It consists of 10 teams, each with around 30 players. According to Sharma, most of the Big Bash’s 350-odd players are from countries other than Canada.

The biggest influx of new players has come from international students from countries where cricket is particularly popular, Sharma said, adding that live broadcasts of the International Cricket Council’s men’s T20 World Cup in June have also fuelled interest in the sport.

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“That’s one of the reasons why this game is so popular with young people,” said Sharma. “It’s been broadcast across North America.”

The World Cup was the first ICC tournament to have matches played in North America and Sharma says the broadcasts were able to generate more interest due to their time zone proximity to London.

CRICKET: LIKE BASEBALL, BUT NOT

Although the rules of cricket are complex, Sharma explains some of the basics of the game.

Cricket is played with a bat and ball by two teams of 11 players each. A cricket field is oval with a rectangular area in the middle called the pitch. At each end of the pitch there are three stumps with a post between them.

A coin toss decides which team bats or throws.

The main objective of the game is to score more runs than the opposing team. In T20 cricket, a match ends after each team has batted 20 overs or when all batters have been dismissed. An “over” in cricket consists of six balls bowled to the batter. The batsman can either leave the ball, play a defensive shot or hit the ball. It is not necessary to run after each shot.

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If the bowler can clear the stumps with the ball, the batsman is out. Similar to baseball, a batsman can be out if a ball is caught. There are 10 ways a batsman can be out.

During an over, two players from the batting side stand at opposite ends of the pitch: a striker, who hits balls bowled by the opposing team, and a non-striker. Runs are scored when the striker and non-striker successfully swap positions on the pitch or by hitting the ball to the boundary. The batting side scores six runs if the ball lands outside the boundary. If the ball hits the ground and then bounces over the boundary, it counts as four runs.

The length of a cricket match varies depending on the format and in a Test match it takes place over five days. The Big Bash London League mainly follows the T20 cricket format and matches usually last around four hours.

WHERE TO PLAY

According to the City Hall website, there are three cricket grounds in London: North London Athletic Field, Northridge Fields and Silverwood Park. In Northridge, City Hall recently installed two black side panels for the cricket ground after Sharma raised safety concerns.

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“It’s a safety hazard if you don’t have a side screen because the ball gets lost in the background,” Sharma said. “It can be ugly… if you get hit by a ball that’s going about 100 kilometres (per hour).” The black screens are designed to contrast with the colour of the cricket ball to give players a better view, which can help prevent injuries, Sharma said.

Many London cricketers opt for tapeball, a safer version of the game that uses a tennis ball instead of a traditional cricket ball.

THE FUTURE OF CRICKET IN LONDON

Sharma commends the city for being the first municipality in southwestern Ontario to provide side screens for cricket and hopes the city will continue to support the sport.

As the sport becomes increasingly popular in London, Sharma is pushing for the establishment of dedicated cricket pitches, with turf maintained to international cricket standards. He also sees the need to improve access to toilets on city pitches.

What Sharma particularly appreciates about cricket is its ability to create community. He describes a cricket team as a group of people with expertise in different fields who must learn to work together.

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“It promotes camaraderie and understanding,” he said. “There are so many different facets to the game and so many intricacies involved. … All (players) have to work together to make a fantastic cricket team.”

For Sharma, his continued involvement with cricket in London is a way of giving back to the game that has taught him so much. From coaching new players to pushing for better facilities in the city, the rise in the sport’s popularity in the city is no coincidence, he said.

“When I see the young people coming here to play… it encourages me, it excites me.”

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