Struan Somerville

IPSD 204 still does not have a cricket, but only a club.

This story has been contributed by a student from Granger Middle School.

Cricket is an uprising sport in the US, and teams are emerging from many places. There have been lots of demands for the sport. But why doesn’t the Indian Prairie School district consider this as one of the basic sports, like basketball and soccer? 

Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of eleven players on a field. The batsmen playing the bowler of the opposing team have to score as many runs as their team, and the other team has to beat their score. They are played in many formats, such as 20-over and 50-over games.

In IPSD, cricket is only considered a club sport for many. Cricket isn’t a traveling sport, unlike other sports such as volleyball, basketball, and soccer. We should advance Cricket to be equal to the status of other sports. 

We should make cricket a sport where multiple teams travel to different grounds to play against each other. Cricket can only become a sport if we have a ground to play it at. The IPSD district can rent the grounds in Naperville, such as Commissioners Park. This way, teams from different middle schools can play against each other. There could also be tryouts to get onto the teams so that people at the same skill level can play each other. 

Cricket would most likely be played in 10-over games for middle schools, and there could be 20 to 30-over games for high school teams. This way, the game would be played with skill and stamina, like how professional cricket is played, not the very short games where batsmen hit hundreds of runs. The game needs to be fair so that both teams can have opportunities. 

Cricket should be a sport where we can travel and play across the district, and not just play it like a club. This way we can grow cricket into a more competitive sport that many enjoy.