MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, MI - Ever heard of cricket? It is one of India and East Asia’s favorite pastimes, and can be found right here in Meridian Township.

Every Saturday morning, the Lansing Cricket league has sanctioned games at Nancy Moore Park, just down the road from HOMTV studios.

Cricket is a game that is most like baseball, with the bowler, much like a pitcher, running and hurling the ball towards the wickets (like a strike zone), while a batsman (the hitter) tries to hit it past or over the fielders and then run from base to base (there are only two bases, and they are placed in a straight line) to score runs. The games are 11-on-11, and are played in what are called overs instead of innings.

Due to field and equipment constraints, the games take place on the softball fields at Nancy Moore, and the players use a soft baseball, as used in T-ball or youth baseball games, instead of the normally hard cricket ball, so as to avoid using protective equipment for the batsman and catcher.

The LCL was founded and began play in 2007, and is currently composed of 7 teams. The league originally began their games at local high and middle schools, before moving to Nancy Moore in 2019.

Most of the players live in Meridian Township, but have roots in other countries; Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to name a few, and use a number of foreign languages on the field including Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi and Bengali, along with English.

Player and league representative Irfan Jat described the league as tight-knit, and encouraged those new to the game to come out and watch: “If you look at it, cricket is the most-watched sport in the world...it’s really fun to watch, [and] it’s really fun to play.”