The region’s first regulation-sized cricket pitch is coming to Chesterfield, Virginia! In 2023, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the first phase of Beulah Park (6901 Hopkins Rd. North Chesterfield, VA), where the athletic grounds of a former elementary school will be converted into Richmond region’s first regulation-sized cricket pitch. The pitch is set to open in spring 2025.
Don’t know how to play?! Here’s the pitch:
Watch this two-minute video from Global News.
An inside look:
History of Cricket:
A precursor to American baseball, cricket has roots as a past time in colonial America. William Byrd, founder of the city of Richmond, wrote about playing at nearby Westover Planation in 1709. American interest in the sport ebbed and flowed through the centuries and was documented by Tim Lockley at Warwick University as the “biggest sport” in the U.S. in the years prior to the Civil War. It lost momentum after the war when the growth of baseball accelerated. Worldwide, cricket is now considered the fastest growing sport which is attributed to it spreading with British colonization onto many continents.
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, cricket is bouncing back in North America because of the influx of immigrants from India, Pakistan, and the Caribbean. Locally, adult leagues have grown in the region to nearly 30 teams. A reflection of the sport’s popularity, cricket will return to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the first time since 1900.
Sources:
USA Cricket
Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com)
Olympics (olympics.com)