California Cricket Academy
CricMax from New Jersey collects the 2018 California Cricket Festival U-12 winning trophy.

Youth Cricket fans across the United States are excited about this year’s California Cricket Festival hosted by the Cupertino-based California Cricket Academy (CCA). The academy has been hosting the national youth tournament for fifteen years in a row. This year, 16 teams in the Under-15, Under-12, and Under-10 categories, with a combined strength of over 200 players from the United States and the Caribbean will participate in 32 matches on eight grounds in the heart of Silicon Valley from June 20th-23rd.

Cricket is a fast-growing sport in the United States, and USA Cricket, recognized by the International Cricket Council as the governing body for cricket in the country, has ambitious plans to promote all formats of the sport in the USA.

Eric J. Parthen, Project Manager for USA Cricket, says, “This is an incredibly exciting time for cricket in the United States.” Parthen appeals to the youths to “play the game with respect, joy, effort, fair play, and passion, knowing they are the future of cricket in our great country with plenty of cricket opportunities.”

The California Cricket Festival has received lots of accolades from cricket associations and clubs across the country. Hemant and Kinjal Buch, the founders of CCA, said, “The California Cricket Festival is recognized and viewed as an important tournament, and it is the only long format youth tournament where Under-10, Under-12 and Under-15 teams play the 30, 40 and 50-overs formats respectively.” California, with over 300 sunny days and moderate year-round weather, is indeed a perfect place to play cricket. Furthermore, it’s the love and support cricket receives from the community that makes it even more exciting.

Steven Scarf, Mayor of the City of Cupertino, welcome the youths to take part in this year’s Cricket Festival, saying, “The City of Cupertino is pleased to provide the youth of Cupertino and surrounding cities an opportunity to practice and play a wide variety of sports, including cricket, on our fields.”

Ro Khanna, Member of Congress of the United States in a message to the youths, said, “You play the game with integrity, respect, and passion. I hope that you take these valuable skills with you wherever the future may take you. You represent the future of our country.”

On behalf of CCA, Hemant and Kinjal Buch thanks all the sponsors and volunteers for their invaluable support in successfully running the Cricket Festival all these years.