The man in white runs with full force toward a green mat laid out on cement, centered by fields of grass.

In a few seconds he brings his right arm up in a half-circular motion and releases a red ball made out of cork. The ball is skillfully thrown towards another man, also in white and wearing a blue helmet, who takes a step forward knocking the ball with a flat, wooden surfaced bat.

The ball soars into the air, out of the fields. “Chaca,” which means “Sixer,” cheers the crowd.

This unusual scene is a part of cricket, a sport that is not widely known in the Bay Area, but has a loyal and growing following.

The Northern California Cricket Association is a 120-year-old cricketing league that helped bring the sport to the Bay Area. Established in 1892, the league today has more than 500 members and 44 teams that participate in a 16-week-league format game every weekend. There are four divisions which consist of nine teams.

The association’s president for the past year, Sunil Kumar Kumaran, said the organization’s main goal is to encourage, develop and promote cricket in the community; he is enthused about taking cricket to schools, colleges and other organizations.

“NCCA is a platform where players perform and get noticed to go up the ladder all the way to the national level,” said Kumaran.

Cricket is a minor sport in the United States, although it has gained substantial following in the past few years. Cricket has been around for 500 years longer than baseball, yet Americans do not know the sport well. Usually when people think of cricket they associate it with the Indian or British culture.

This is partly due to the sport having developed in England. Since its early development it has reached many countries, though only 10 of those countries take part in the International Cricket Council.

Here in Northern California, the cricket association would like to initiate a vibrant and visible brand that would attract sponsors and assist the development of the game beyond the region.

The organization is focused on taking the game to the next level so that qualified coaches, umpires and officials can make it a professional, popular sport in the United States. Many players with the Northern California Cricket Association have represented the U.S Cricket team in various game formats.

Out of many programs the association has developed, Youth Cricket Development Program is among those considered important to the future of the game.

“[It] takes kids and initiates them into the game at a peripheral level,” said Kumaran. “As they demonstrate their capability to play at the next level, we keep promoting them.”

There are also academies, such as the California Cricket Academy in the Bay Area, that help develop young men who play the game between the ages of 6 and 17. The academy has been around since 2008.

“Plenty of organizations are supporting cricket and trying to push the sport in school curriculum,” said Kumaran. “Still a lot of work needs to be done in involving the locals and introducing cricket in schools is still a major challenge.”

Prumjot Panesar, captain of the NCCA team, has played cricket for the past 12 years for the Northern Western Region U-15 in 2007. He wanted to improve his game and joined CCA a year later.

“CCA helped shape me as a player as well as improve my skills in the game at the time,” said Panesar.

In India, cricket is the main sport; everyone either follows it or actually plays it, said Panesar. He never thought that the sport he played just for fun on the streets of India with his friends could also be a sport that people in the United States would take interest in.

“I encourage others to play cricket even if you don’t know anything about it,” said Panesar.

The Northern California Association currently has few women in the sport. For that reason they take part in a coed team. However, organizers are in the process for forming a complete women’s cricket team.

“We encourage woman in this country to come out and play, join us, have fun and just enjoy the sport,” said Kumaran.

Cricket Strike Zone located at 2919 Whipple Rd. in Union City is a place where people can go to practice cricket as well as baseball and softball. The owner of the shop, Mukul Kumar, has been playing cricket ever since he was a child. He moved to America approximately eight years ago and has been playing cricket there for five years.

“As soon as I settled in the Bay, I came to know the existence of cricket and how massive it is in the community,” said Kumar. “I joined a club and started playing cricket. Over a period of two years ago, I sensed that there is a dire need of an indoor cricket practice facility. I thought it would be a good idea to cater to people who have a passion for cricket and open an indoor facility.”

Kumaran hopes that as the sport grows it opens up the opportunity to expand it even further to future generations.

“I would like to go to the schools, to colleges and tell them about this game and attract them,” said Kumaran. “I mean kids today are exposed to basketball, baseball, football, a whole range of sports, but we would also like to tell them about this globally played sport.”

How to Play:
There are three game formats in the game of cricket.
• Real cricket is considered “test cricket,” where both teams compete throughout a course in five days.
• “Fifty over cricket” is a regular one-day match and “20/20” is a match where both teams have “20 overs” each to play.
• “Overs” consist of six balls being bowled to the batter.

Unlike baseball, there are two batters out on the pitch. From the opposing team, there is a bowler, a wicket keeper and nine fieldsmen. Two umpires are present out on the field to oversee the game and decide who and when someone is called out.