Scranton will soon have its first official cricket pitch.
The city and the Scranton Cricket Club are teaming up to establish a field – known in cricket as a pitch - to play the internationally popular game on at Chic Feldman Field.
“It's really exciting to have this here in our city,” Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti said Wednesday. “The cricket club’s been around for a while, but you guys haven't had a home base. Very, very excited that you have that here. We have a growing and such a powerful, fun Indian community. So, we're grateful to partner with you.”
City officials hope to have the official field ready by this summer, but club players said they already play on the existing field and adjust for its shortcomings.
“We can play anywhere,” club member Smit Ray said.
Chic Feldman Field, named after a popular Scranton Tribune sports columnist who died in 1972, was built decades ago for softball and basketball. It lies in the Pine Brook neighborhood, which the city and civic groups have targeted for revitalization the last few years.
The city’s 2021 parks master plan recommended “a full renovation ... after long-term goals were determined.” The city already removed deteriorated playground equipment.
Scranton club members approached Cognetti about a year ago about establishing a permanent field. Cognetti thought it was a good idea, considering the growth of the city’s South Asian communities.
“We've been trying for a couple of years to try to get the field,” club member Sammy Lalkiya said. “We are getting the pitch, our own pitch. So, we're going to be really, really good. We, the whole team, appreciate Scranton City and the mayor for this thing they're doing for us.”
The Scranton club consists mostly of immigrants from India. The NEPA Cricket Club, mostly immigrants from Pakistan, established its first permanent pitch last summer in Forty Fort in Luzerne County with the borough’s help.
Cricket’s popularity began growing in the region as many Indians and Pakistanis migrated here in the last three decades. Founded in England, cricket ranks as the second most popular sport worldwide behind soccer.
The game resembles baseball with playing gear that includes balls about the size of baseballs and bats, flat instead of round. The rules are vastly different, but teams win by scoring the most runs in both.
To date, Scranton cricket players have set up wickets and bowled, batted or fielded balls wherever they could find space. That included the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s parking lot in the city’s Hill Section and McDade Park and the South Side Sport Complex in Scranton and Rice Elementary School in Mountaintop.
The city is seeking bids through May 15 at 9:30 a.m. to build the field. As its contribution to the new pitch, the club plans to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to import official cricket turf from India.
