Cricket is having a PNW moment
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Andries Gous of the Seattle Thunderbolts bats during the 2022 Minor League Cricket Final. Photo: Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Cricket is growing in the Pacific Northwest, with dozens of teams and a rapidly expanding fan base.
Why it matters: The Cricket World Cup, which is currently being co-hosted in the West Indies and the U.S., is stoking wider interest in the world's second most popular sport.
State of play: Many Americans are just waking up to the game — last week, the semiprofessional U.S. team shocked the cricket world when it beat cricket superpower Pakistan.
- But teams have been playing in the Northwest for more than 60 years, said Nadeem (Zain) Ismail, former vice president of the NorthWest Cricket League (NWCL) and current secretary of the Seattle Cricket Club.
Catch up quick: Pacific Northwest cricket players used to have to go to Vancouver, B.C., for matches, but now there are scores of NWCL teams in Seattle, Portland and elsewhere in the states, Ismail told Axios.
- Interest in the sport has grown "exponentially in the Pacific Northwest," according to Satish Naik, secretary for NWCL and the Northwest coordinator for USA Cricket.
- Immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and other countries where cricket is a national sport are lured by jobs at local tech companies.
- This is especially visible in the youth leagues, which have grown from about 60 or 70 participants in 2017 to nearly 1,000 Seattle and Portland young people who want to play cricket professionally now, Naik told Axios.
What they're saying: "It is our dream to bring cricket and cricket teams to the schools and watch the U.S.A. become a land of cricket," said Naik.
By the numbers: In 2013, 24 teams were playing T20 cricket in the Seattle area's NWCL, which grew to 64 by 2023.
- Portland Metro Open Cricket saw an increase of seven teams from 2016 to 2023.
- The number of players turning out for quick cricket has increased greatly in the Beaverton Cricket softball league, which saw a 76% increase in the number of players playing T15 cricket between 2017 and 2023.
The intrigue: Microsoft alone has four cricket teams, and the company's new layout features 18 buildings surrounding a cricket court where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, an investor in the Major League Cricket's Seattle Orcas, can watch the play from his window.
Zoom in: "Cricket is like baseball on steroids," Dhiraj Sharma, who plays for Reed's Rockstars, told Axios.
How it works: Cricket is played with a paddle-shaped wooden bat and ball, with lots of diving and jumping, fast pitching, and home run-like hits.
- Players run back and forth between two bases to score runs, and can also hit home runs worth four or six runs.
Fun fact: USA Cricket, the sport's governing body, has a mission for U.S. cricketers "to achieve sustained competitive excellence and successfully compete in national and international competition."
- Part of that was lobbying to bring the World Cup here, while also scheduling games during prime time for Indian television viewers.
What we're watching: Saurabh Netravalkar, a Mumbai-born Oracle employee from Redwood City, played on the U.S. team that beat Pakistan, and has a chance to star again — this time against India.
- The matchup against India in New York starts at 7:30am Wednesday.
- The final World Cup game is set for June 29.