BATON ROUGE– Cricket, a sport that is most popular in South Asia, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world, has a home in Baton Rouge as well.
Woodlawn Acres, a park off of Antioch Road, is dedicated to the sport.
The Baton Rouge Cricket Club (BRCC) has been in existence since 2008 and has grown to one of the most established clubs in the state. In 2015, the Board of Members of BRCC turned the club into a non-profit organization.
On weekends, players from around the area and beyond gather at the field to compete either under the umbrella of the Louisiana Cricket Association or the Baton Rouge Premier League.
There was a Premier League Tournament that featured six teams and 54 players from the Baton Rouge area Oct. 28 and 29. According to Jimmy Bhinder with BRCC, between 200 and 300 people were at the field to watch the tournament games.
“It’s like a family,” Jimmy Bhinder with BRCC said. “It brings people together from all over.”
Woodlawn Acres has a cricket pitch — a specialized strip in the middle of the playing field where much of the action takes place — and a large batting cage where players can practice their skills.
Traditional cricket matches can last up to five days, but club games last a few hours. Bhinder said they play a little more relaxed style of cricket. The current season plays in the Twenty20 (T20) format, a shorter version of the game, which was produced on the professional level in 2003.
The sport draws big crowds to the field to and people together bonding in a common interest. Bhinder said BREC has played a big part in transferring the park into a cricket facility.
“We want to give a huge thanks to BREC for working with us making the park a place for us to play,” he said.
To join the BR Cricket Club, click here.
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