About the University High School Cricket Club
THE CLUB
The University High School Cricket Club is dedicated to exploring various forms of vintage bat and ball sports, including, but not limited to, cricket, townball, baseball, and rounders. The club was founded in the Spring of 2009, shortly before the kickoff of our very first cricket elective session.
THE ELECTIVE
University High School offers two elective sessions each year, one at each of the conclusions of the Spring and Fall semesters. The cricket elective (in the Spring) is nine three-hour class days long, and the townball elective (in the Winter) is seven of the same. For each elective we break up into three teams, with each team being picked by a captain before the elective begins. The three teams for the cricket elective every year are England, Australia, and New Zealand, and for townball are the Boston Red Caps, the New York Mutuals, and the Louisville Grays. The instructor of the class is the captain for one of the teams each year, and the captain for the other two teams in each elective is appointed by him. Once a player has been appointed as a captain of a team, he remains captain of that team until he graduates.
CRICKET
Cricket at University High School started in the spring of 2009 with a tennis ball and tennis racket. It quickly progressed (with official equipment) as a main-stay intermural sport at University High School because of its playability. The rules of the game were modified slightly to allow for shorter games. We play without overs, and use a 110 feet long by 88 feet wide elipse around the pitch for which if the ball is struck outside by the batsman, the batter is forced to attempt to advance to the next wicket. Most games last about 60-100 minutes. Click here for complete details on how to play University High School's version of cricket.
TOWNBALL
During the winter elective sessions of 2012 and 2013, University High School offered an elective known as "Origins of the American Pastime." In that class students were instructed to research one of ten variations of the early game of baseball, and to teach the rest of the class how to play. During those elective sessions, it was decided that the game known (at the time of the civil war) as "The Massachusetts Game (known today as "townball")" was the most fun. As it turns out, the Massachusetts Game was the early rival of what was then known as "The New York Game (known today as baseball)" as America's National Pastime. And after finding a modified version of the game (such as adding an extra stake, as well as allowing over-hand pitching), the game came to be the Fall counterpart to cricket as the other intramural sport played at University High School during the electives. Click here for complete details on how to play the modified version of townball.
WALL OF FAME
The University High School Cricket Club has a wall of fame for both cricket and townball for the outstanding players of each sport who have set themselves apart with their exceptional skill, sportsmanship, and dedication to the club. We like to call these individuals the "legends" of the history of our game. In the Spring of 2013, cricket club founders James Keener ('11) of Australia and Shane Daniels ('11) of New Zealand were our first inductees into the wall of fame, and in the Spring of 2014 bowler Shivam Patel ('14) of Australia was inducted. In 2016, Payaum Melchizedah ('11) of New Zealand and Tristan Chester ('14) of England were inducted. In the winter of 2014 captains Brad Visacki ('14) of the New York Mutuals and Jon Sowden ('14) of the Lousiville Grays were our first townball inductees.
RELATED LINKS