Illinois’ only park district cricket league continues to grow with the Cardinals.
Saturday, September 29, was a sweet day for the Cardinals, one of 13 teams in the Naperville Park District Cricket League. After an outstanding season, the Cardinals won the coveted Naperville Cricket Cup by defeating the Dolphins in the championship match at Commissioners Park at 3704 111th Street.
“We have been trying to win this championship for the past five years,” said Ravikanth Karra of the Cardinals. “It was a total team effort to ring up a hard fought victory. All of the players contributed in almost all of the games and that is what has made a difference,” he added.
The Cardinals scored 167 runs for10 wickets in 24.3 overs. The Dolphins were all out for 94 runs.
Cricket is similar to baseball, with 2 teams of 11 players each. The teams take turns batting, with the goal of scoring the most runs. Games traditionally can last all day, but with time and space at a premium, the Naperville Park District limits the length of games to 4 hours.
“As far as we know, the Naperville Park District is the only park district in Illinois that operates a cricket league,” said Program Manager Gary Foiles. “We opened our second cricket pitch this year at Nike Sports Complex and continue to see growth in the league.”
Photo courtesy Naperville Park District / Click photo to enlarge.