Cricket (not the bug) comes to Croton Point Park in Westchester

May 22

Written By HVNY

Unravelling the Corridor of Uncertainty surrounding the area’s newest sport*

The field is a pitch.
There’s a bat and a ball and two teams of 11 players.
There are two sets of three sticks, called wickets, in the ground at each end of the pitch.
Across the top of each wicket is a horizontal piece called the bails.
Each team takes turns, called innings, to bat and bowl (pitch, but, like, throwing not the other one above…)
Sides have one or two innings each, depending on the pre-arranged duration of the match.

The objective: bowlers try to break the wicket so the bails fall. The batsmen, on the opposing team, then tries to hit the ball away from the wicket. A hit may be defensive or offensive, depending if they are simply trying to protect the wicket, or if they are trying to run to the other wicket after the hit. Each time both batsmen reach the opposite wicket, a run is scored. Hit the ball outside the boundary on the ground and the team gets four points. Hit the ball into the boundary area in the air a la Aaron Judge and the team receive six points. Most points at the end of the match wins – and sometimes the scores can be in the hundreds.

This is (the Encyclopedia Brittanica’s description of) Cricket, the game not the bug. And there’s a lot more to the game, which originated in the 13th century and is believed to be one of the older English games that influenced the creation of baseball.

The sport is now no longer a blob* here in the Hudson Valley and a dedicated cricket pitch will be unveiled at Croton Point Park on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 2pm.

“We welcome fans into this wonderful sport and to the spirit of this game that is highly competitive around the world and right here in Westchester County,” Latimer said. “Cricket may be unfamiliar to a lot of us but this is just the beginning to make cricket as popular as the many other sports we have here in America.”

Currently, the Cricket Clubs of Westchester, part of the United States Premier League, a semi-professional Twenty20 league, use several fields throughout the county for matches, but the site at Croton Point Park will mark the second dedicated pitch for the sport.

To attend the unveiling of the new court, RSVP to communications@westchestercountyny.gov. Croton Point Park is located at 1A Croton Point Avenue, Croton-on-Hudson.

Curious? Take in one of the Cricket Clubs of Westchester’s upcoming matches: https://cricclubs.com/CCWNY/fixtures.do?league=All&clubId=13839

*Cricket Terms:

Familiarize yourself before you hit the pitch or utterly confuse your baseball-lovin’ cousins with these terms used in cricket:

Arm ball: A ball bowled by a slow bowler which has no spin on it and so it does not turn as expected but stays on a straight line

Beamer: A ball that does not bounce and (usually accidentally) passes the batsman at or about head height

Blob: A score of zero (also called a Duck)

Bouncer: A short-pitched ball that passes the batsman at chest or head height

Box: The abdominal protector worn by batsmen and wicketkeepers

Bunny, aka Rabbit: A member of the side who cannot bat and is selected as a specialist bowler or wicketkeeper and almost always bats at number 11

Bye: A term first recorded in the 1770s to refer to a run scored when the batsman does not touch the ball with either his bat or body

Chucker: A term for a bowler who throws the ball

Corridor of Uncertainty: A term which describes the area just outside the batsman’s off stump where he is unsure whether he has to leave or play the ball

Cow corner: An unconventional fielding system; the term is believed to be originated at Dulwich College where there was a corner of the field containing livestock

Dibbly-dobbly bowlers: Bowlers who are of medium pace

Dolly: An easy catch

Gardening: The act of the batsman repairing indentations in the pitch

Grubber: A ball that hardly bounces

Lollipop: A really easy ball to hit - a 'gift

Occupy the crease: When a batsman stays at the wicket but scores slowly often with the intention of playing out for a draw

Pitch: The bounce of the ball - "it pitches on a good length". Also, the cut strip in the centre of the field of play.

Pudding: A slow, stodgy pitch which will be difficult to score quickly on.

Rock: Colloquial term for a cricket ball

Shirtfront: A flat, lifeless, soul-destroying wicket that is beloved of batsmen the world over, and loathed by bowlers of all varieties.

Sitter: The easiest, most innocuous and undroppable catch that a fielder can ever receive

Tonk: To give the ball a good wallop, onomatopoeically named after the sound a good hit makes.