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There are in fact a lot of cricket in USA, some say there are more than 200 cricket clubs in the tristate areas, i.e. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut states. I am playing for Maddogs Cricket Club based on the border of Connecticut state and New York City. Led by an Aussie captain, we are a mix of Aussies, Brits, Indians, Pakistanis, Carribeans, Kiwi, Americans and a Japanese. Cricket in New York area is predominantly played by by Indian, Pakistani and West India population here, and often you see a club consisting of guys from one ethnical back ground. So we are unusually well-mixed club here, which is why I joined the club. In fact, what surprised me most was the fact that I was NOT the first Japanese to play for the club. Mr.. Kita who apparently was raised in UK, used to play for Maddogs until 2002, and he apparently plays in Osaka now. Guys say I am the best Japanese cricketer they have seen (of the only two obviously). We play a small league of 4 clubs in our area. It may not been as competitive as other more formally organized leagues, but still we play fairly competitive cricket with a lot of fun and good spirits. The fact that we have two ex-USA national players in our club explains that. How much the guys in club enjoys cricket is also demonstrated in a fact that we do a lot of tours. Since I joined them in 2004, we toured Toronto, Canada in autumn last year and more notably to Nevis Island in the Caribbean in January this year. We are talking about Argentina this winter! We also participate in the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival every year, winning the tournament two year sago. As for my form as a player, I am doing alright. Quite often, we play against Indian or Pakistani clubs. I bowl to a pumped up batsman, who face a Japanese bowler for the first time in their lives, and think I am a piece of "sushi" In a situation like this, my slow but accurate teasing swinger become quite effective and gives me an wicket. I truly enjoy playing with the Maddogs and playing the game in New York. We have a web site, but is not working well at the moment. When it is fixed, I will let you know. I have attached some of our photographs here. Well you should also be proud of the more recent incident that I broke my collar bone, attempting a spectacular (well, it would have been!) diving catch at mid on. Guys called it a "kamikaze" diving. This is why I could not type an email back to you for a while. I will be out of cricket for the rest of the season. This will be the first summer in 15 years without cricket for me. It will be interested to see how I am going get through this. At least I can spend some more time with my wife. Some joked that in fact it was my wife who dogged the ground to make me fall to cause injury!! At least I did it while cricket, in a true brave manner. I am enjoying reading your KCL website every week. Wyverns CC are not doing as good as they should be, but hopefully they will cause more upsets in the Division 2. I am looking forward to seeing you and playing with you again in Japan sometime in the future. Cheers, Hide Kojima |
