Morrisville Mayor T.J. Cawley says the most expensive real estate in town is the 22-yard rectangular pitch in the middle of the Church Street Park cricket grounds.
The town has spent tens of thousands of dollars to bring and maintain this playing surface at a world-class level, and this weekend the investment is paying off.
For the second year in a row, Minor League Cricket is hosting its championship in Morrisville. Two conference finals were held Saturday, with the winners squaring off for the title at 5 p.m. Sunday.
The league is semi-pro, but the matches had a professional polish. There were big-name corporate sponsors, announcers, a VIP section and rows of tents for spectators to buy food, play virtual cricket and learn about the world’s second-most popular sport.
Admission was free, and some fans traveled from as far as California and Texas to catch their favorite players. Many spectators were immigrants from cricket-mad places like India, England, and the West Indies, while others were curious to check out a new game.
“We generally feel this is the best facility in the country and the support we get from the city is amazing,” said Sameer Mehta, a former television executive who cofounded Minor League Cricket (MiLC) in 2019.
In the afternoon semifinal, the Seattle Thunderbolts held off the Silicon Valley Strikers by a score of 155 to 149. The second semifinal saw the Atlanta Fire easily handle the New Jersey Stallions under the lights, 210 to 114. The matches featured several professional players with experience in top domestic leagues around the world, including the Indian Premier League.
The 26-team MiLC plays a variation of cricket called T20, a condensed form of the game that typically lasts 3 to 4 hours. The local squad, the Morrisville Raptors, were bounced out in the quarterfinals last week, but several players were among this weekend’s crowd.
“It’s a local sports league, and people love the sport in this region,” said Dane Piedt, an all-rounder (meaning he bats and bowls) for the Raptors. Piedt, 32, played professionally in his native South Africa and for its national team. He once played in stadiums with 40,000 fans but retired from South African cricket in 2020 to move to the United States.
“I didn’t think twice,” he said of his move to America. “The game is getting out there.”
Now living in Morrisville, Piedt said he’s focused on raising his newborn son and expanding Cricket’s reach in his new home.
World Cup in Morrisville?
The town of Morrisville is doubling down on its commitment to cricket.
As the game grows in the United States (a Major League Cricket league is planned to start next year), the Triangle community and MiLC are partnering on a multi-million-dollar project to make the Church Street grounds worthy of international tournaments. The plan includes 2,000 additional permanent seats and multiple practice fields and batting cages at the park.
“We want Morrisville to be synonymous with cricket in the U.S., and we’re doing everything we can to make it happen,” Cawley said.
In 2024, the T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States. The last World Cup was watched by 167 million people around the world, and Cawley’s dream is for Morrisville to be part of one of the world’s most-viewed sporting events.
“To have a match in Morrisville would be game changing,” he said. “It’s like having the Super Bowl in your hometown.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2022 9:19 AM.
