Cricket Center Comes To Laurel Park Grandstand

In the past, when you said the word cricket around Laurel Park racetrack a chirpy insect came to mind.

Times have changed. In early February the Washington Cricket Center opened on the second floor of the Laurel Park grandstand. That’s cricket, as in the ball-and-stick game, better understood in England, Australia and other countries once ruled by the British Empire.

“I’m from Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon when it was under British rule,” said Dr. Ajith Silva, a professor on aging at the University of Maryland, University College, who owns the new facility. “I grew up playing cricket. I’ve been here [in the United States] for 25 years. I have a passion for the sport and I do a lot of cricket coaching.

“My philosophy is to train young kids. You’ve got to catch them early, train them and build up the game. It’s the only way to promote the game.”

It is a philosophy that management at Laurel Park can certainly relate to. The Maryland Jockey Club and its new general manager, Sal Sinatra, are working hard to attract young families with children to the racetrack, to instill a love for horse racing that will carry into later, adult life.

Work is already underway at Laurel to create a billiards room and an arcade for children in other unused space in the massive grandstand building.

The new cricket center is utilizing more than 12,000 square feet, up from a 7,500-foot facility it operated out of the past two years in Jessup. Those walking into the area will see two relatively small netted cages with high-tech pitching machines and behind them are two more netted areas, each 150 feet long.

“We are the only ones who have these long lanes,” said Dr. Silva. “They are used primarily to practice for the outdoor game. But since we now have the space, we can formally begin to play indoor cricket.”

For a sport that is relatively unknown in the area, there are quite a few teams already playing. The Washington Cricket League has 40 teams, the Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board has 16 and the Howard County Cricket League has 24 teams, though the Howard teams play a shorter version of the game with a harder ball.

The University of Maryland, College Park began a club team last year and Dr. Silva and his coaches, who include US national team player Adil Bhatti, are also teaching cricket in after-school programs at several Maryland middle schools.

And, Dr. Silva has already started a six-team turf league to utilize the two outdoor, natural turf fields he built on Laurel Park property last year. A third field will be used this season. The turf fields are significant, as the highest form of the sport, like the Cricket World Cup, which is going on now through March 29, is played on them. Turf fields are so rare the closest one to Maryland – before Dr. Silva built these – is in Florida.

It is the fields that first brought Dr. Silva to Laurel Park. He had passed the vacant field for close to eight years and dreamed of its cricket potential. Finally, he stopped at the track to ask who owned the property. Learning it was Laurel Park, he worked with John Lenzini, the track’s director of admissions and parking, to work out a rental agreement. Then, last fall, he asked about indoor space and the deal for the new center was struck.

“I don’t know anything about cricket,” said Sinatra. “But the area in our building that it is in is utilizing space that wouldn’t otherwise be used and we can rent it out for a nominal fee. It benefits both of us.”

In fact, Sinatra hopes that some of the young people that come to the cricket center might be attracted to watch a race and become interested in horseracing and Dr. Silva said “quite a few” horse racing fans and employees have stopped by his cricket center to ask what’s going on and inquire about lessons.

“Maybe I can create some interest and some new participants in cricket,” said Dr. Silva, who admits he and his wife, Dr. Priyanthi Silva, “dearly love watching horse racing, especially the Preakness.”

Dr. Silva said he plans to pursue those at the track with interest by offering free lessons to Laurel Park personnel from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, beginning Feb. 20.

For more information, stop by the center, which is open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; or call Dr. Silva at 443-538-6641.