The Madison Cricket Club will start its first season in the Midwest Cricket League this May. With the city Park Commission’s approval for an improved, competition-quality pitch, or playing field, the club is now eligible to join the league and play host to matches in Madison.

The Cricket Club began in 1997 with about 20 members. It consisted mostly of students and residents of Madison from India and Pakistan, but membership has grown to include about 100 members from all over the world.

“We are trying to expand cricket in the Midwest,” club member and UW graduate student Aaroop Sankar said. “We played just ourselves and then said ‘why don’t we take it to a higher level and pull in some money, try to get some equipment and play competitive cricket?'”

Club manager Himakiran Anugula says one of the major problems has been keeping up a suitable pitch on which to play.

“The pitch we have now is made of clay, and it needs a lot of maintenance,” Anugula said. “The pitch is virtually unplayable when it rains.”

Members spend a lot of time making the existing pitch suitably hard and flat, because it is mostly made of dirt. It must be rolled with heavy equipment before playing.

“The pitch needs to be hard, because the ball needs to bounce evenly on the surface,” Sankar said.

The club lobbied the Park Commission last week to put in a permanent pitch at Garner Park off Mineral Point Road at Whitney Way. The new pitch, made of artificial turf over a concrete base, will be less expensive to maintain than the current one. Anugula said they ideally wanted the commission to pay for some of it. The club would then pay the commission money each time they use it for a competitive league game.

“They approved our proposal but without any funding,” Anugula said. “But we are raising money to cover the costs of the project.”

Most of the club funding comes from local sponsors and other organizations, but when the club joined the Midwest Cricket League they received a new source of finance. The Chicago-based league agreed to help pay for the new pitch in return for the team’s committment to play in the league, Sankar said.

He added that the club is now on its way to financial stability.

“We’re almost there, but we still need a little bit more finances,” Sankar said.

The Madison Cricket Club is also looking into getting help from the UW Athletic Department, and members hope to get more teams to play.

The new pitch will be finished by the time the May-through-September season begins.

For more information about the Madison Cricket Club, visit the club website at madisoncricket.tripod.com