V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Bowler Sharad Lodhi upper right, appeals for a catch behind the wicket off batsman Govind Veeraraghavan as wicketkeeper Imran Paniwala holds the ball in the air. Umpire Zeeshan Babar prepares to make his call during play last weekend in South Park. Click photo for larger image. Cricket in the 'Burgh Cricket matches begin at 9:30 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday at Texas Field in South Park during the summer, weather permitting. For more information about the game or league, go to www.pittsburghcricket.com

Just off 100 Acre Drive, among the curved roads, green hills and dense trees of South Park, the occasional motorist slows down to take in an unusual sight for Pittsburgh: cricket.

Not the insect. Not the wireless phone company.

The game.

There in the county park, beside a slightly weatherbeaten "Texas Field" sign and a red Porta-John, are grown men at play, dressed in brilliant white. They bat, run, field and cheer with the enthusiasm of schoolchildren for the game they each, for the most part, learned as schoolchildren.

Admittedly, they were schoolchildren far from Pittsburgh, but schoolchildren, nonetheless.

Since May, this enterprising group of Pittsburgh cricketers -- as those who play the game are called -- from all around the region and all around the world have brought this most British and gentlemanly sport to this decidedly American and historically working man's city. They've formed the Pittsburgh Cricket Association, a fully sanctioned league that plays matches against each other as well as teams from as far away as Columbus, Ohio, and Philadelphia.

Though a handful of Americans play on the league's five teams, most players are from India, Pakistan and Australia -- all former British colonies, where the game is either the national summer sport or a prominent pastime.

Cricket might best be described as what two baseball-loving American kids might devise if they had only one glove, two bats and two home plates. Except for the fact that cricket predates baseball by a good 150 years.

There is a pitcher, called a bowler. There are batters, called batsmen, bases, called wickets, and a catcher, called a wicketkeeper. But therein lie the differences between baseball and cricket -- there are two batters and two bases some 66 feet apart. And a team of fieldplayers: a catcher, a bowler and nine outfielders.

Only the catcher wears a glove to field.

A run occurs when a batsman hits the leather-covered cork ball, delivered by the bowler, and runs to switch places with the other batter. They continue switching places, racking up runs until a fielder gets the ball back to the wicket area. To be struck out is to be bowled -- when the wicket is struck with a ball the bowler bowls. In international matches, play can last five days. But in one-day games, such as the ones played at South Park, there are only two innings, one for each team, ending when 10 batsmen are out. Scores routinely top 200 runs for each side.

	V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Batsman, right, Narkeeran Narasimhan, of Canonsburg, prepares to hit a ball bowled by Sanjeev Singh, of Scott. Behind the stumps, wicketkeeper Imran Paniwala, of Monroeville, waits to make a play. Click photo for larger image.

It can be confusing to an American, or anyone else who grew up with baseball.

"In India, everyone grows up with cricket, watching cricket, playing cricket. It's kind of the most popular sport in India," said Anu Chopra, of Plum.

Chopra, like most of the members of the league, moved to this area for work. Others went to school in Pittsburgh, married Pittsburghers, or otherwise found themselves in this formerly cricket-less city.

"I played from when I was 7 or 8, as little as I can remember," said Tony Trehy, formerly of New South Wales, Australia. Trehy and his wife Kathleen, a Mount Washington native, lived in Australia for two years before relocating to Pittsburgh.

"[I'd] been in Pittsburgh for six years, the one thing I missed was the cricket," said Trehy,

To satisfy a craving for the sport, groups of students from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University created an informal league, using modified rules and taped-up tennis balls.

But as Zeeshan Babar, who attended CMU said, "It was an immature cricket. Formal is much better."

However, to have a proper cricket match would require teams, a field and equipment, all of which are not readily available in the United States.

Shailesh Bokil and Sai Pinnamaneni, natives of India now living in Scott, participated in less formal games with Australians Reg Henry and Paul MacKay. Henry, of Sewickley moved from England to Pittsburgh to work at the Post-Gazette and MacKayrelocated through his work with restaurants and international barbecue competitions.

Pinnamaneni said that after being invited to a formal cricket match in Philadelphia, "We were inspired. We said, 'We have to do this, we have to have it in Pittsburgh.' "

Once the group was incorporated as a nonprofit sports organization, the biggest problem was finding a field. Bats, balls, pads and helmets -- even the pitch, the narrow infield of the sport -- could be ordered online.

While cricket fields are commonplace in other parts of the world and available in New York, California, and Florida, there are none in Pittsburgh.

"I went during the cold winter trying to identify the fields," said Pinnamaneni, "actively visited all the fields in the county parks."

Finally, with the help of Clarence Hopson, deputy director of Allegheny County Parks, the group made some headway.

"The main challenge was to find a place that was big enough," said Hopson. "When you look at the sport, I tend to relate it to baseball. But they needed a field the size of a football field."

They found what they needed in South Park.

The group began promoting the league through the Pittsburgh Cricket Association's Web site and by word of mouth in the local Australian, Pakistani and Indian communities. Soon they had more than 500 supporters. Today, they are recognized by from the United States Cricket Association.

They've even gotten interest from Americans without any direct connection to any former British colony -- other than the U.S., that is.

The group hopes to expand the league to eight teams next year. They're even sponsoring a one-week workshop for Green Tree youths to familiarize them with the sport.

Douglas Thompson, of O'Hara, started playing with the league after last year seeing an annual game held by the British-American Business Council in Pittsburgh.

"I cross town to get here," he said. "That's devotion."

Devotion to a sport that transcends nationalities and political differences.

"It's about the community," said Babar, "the getting together. It doesn't matter if you are Pakistani or Indian, we're all just there to play."