The Kyiv Cricket Club recently staged its first "Kwik Cricket Carnival" in an effort to bring the game to the masses and, in particular, introduce the sport to Ukrainian youth..
Cricket, a peculiar sport where players bowl balls and protect wickets, is hardly ever played outside the British Commonwealth. It is rarely seen on ESPN or even Eurosport, and few cricket personalities ever get sneakers named after them.
But Thamaria Pandian, organizer of the Kiev Cricket Club, wants to change all that. The Kyiv resident, who is originally from India, hopes that one day more countries will embrace the sport, and he’s doing his best to make sure that Ukraine is on the list.
The Kiev Cricket Club started in 1999 and now has a steady following of about three dozen regular cricketers from Commonwealth countries like Britain, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia. They play most Saturdays and Sundays.
Now they are trying to get Ukrainians involved in the sport.
“Our long-term objective is to have Ukraine on the map of international cricket playing countries,” Pandian said optimistically.
On Sept. 15, with the support of the British and Indian embassies and the sponsorship of several local businesses, the club hosted the Kwik Cricket carnival to introduce the game to locals.
About 300 people showed up for the carnival, which focused on recruitment and education. There were separate sessions for adults and children to teach them the fundamentals of the game.
Although most of the participants were ex-pats, the event did attract a sizeable group of locals.
“The best part of it was just the large number of people who showed up,” he said. “Of course, they loved the cricket but also the Indian food, and the beer was flowing.”
In between courses of chicken curry, visitors took lessons in cricket – something that’s a bit of a challenge for those who wouldn’t know a wicket from a hole in the ground. Chock full of rules and jargon akin to baseball – including runs, innings and umpires – the game is a challenge to learn.
Like baseball, cricket is a game played by two teams on a grassy field. In the center of the field stand two wickets – the equivalent of bases in baseball. Teams of 11 players alternate between bowling (pitching), fielding and batting. The winning team is the one with the most runs, usually after two innings. Points are scored by running between wickets after hitting the ball. Post-game cricket tradition is not so different from that of most other sports – a discussion of its highlights and lowlights over a pitcher of beer.
While the rules may seem complicated, club secretary Jai Narula insists that learning the game is fun.
“The reason for organizing this function was to introduce the game to Ukrainians,” he said. “We would be more than happy to have people come on a regular basis and learn the game and then improve as we are improving.”
Knowing that ex-pats usually leave Ukraine after a few years, Narula hopes the Kiev Cricket Club will one day have a majority local membership and register as the Ukrainian Cricket Association.
“I’m here now, but I may not be here in one or more years,” he said. “We would like to have an organization, so that even when people come and go, the club will be here permanently.”
The Kiev Cricket Club
meets at 11:30 a.m.
on Saturdays and Sundays at Lehka Promislovist on Arsenalnaya (behind the Turkish Embassy). For more information, call Thamarai “Tom” Pandian at
234-0857 or 244-0915
or e-mail [email protected].
