Cricket a growing sport in Saint John

Cricket has quietly been growing in Saint John and the Saint John Cricket Club is trying to increase its numbers.

The club was set up last year with the hope of beingable to compete with other cities and provinces.

"Fredericton has three different clubs that play in a league," said Amit Tamrakar, the club's treasurer. "We have 10 members right now and we are trying to expand that as much as we can."

Tamrakar says cricket requires11 players, along with two spares,to compete.

"If the club can grow, we can have more than one team in Saint John instead of going to Fredericton [to compete]."

The club spent the winter practising indoors at the NickNicolle Centre and will be using the Hazen White field during the summer months, but finding a proper space to play cricket has been difficult.

"There's no field in Saint Johnthat can work in terms of size that we need for cricket," he said. "[The field]is four times the size of a baseball field and most are rectangular or diamond shape ...No field is close to what we need."

However,Tamrakarsaysthe Saint John Trojans Rugby Club hasbeen working with themto ensure they have the right type of space to play.They are discussing the idea of expanding existing ground or building new ground to have both clubs play on the same field.

"Hopefully in the coming years we will have our own grounds here," he said.

Tamrakar says theclub is trying to introduce as many people as possible to the sport, showing them how it's played and encouraging them to try it out.

"It's not difficult. It's very similar to baseball, but with different rules. There's a pitcher and hitter. As long as you get usedto it, it's team play and it's a lot of fun.

"It's easy to learn as long as you're open to learning."