The California Cricket Academy (CCA) was founded 20 years ago in the Bay area of California by Hemant and Kinjal Buch when the sport was still not identified as a mainstream sport in the United States. However, due to initiatives like CCA’s, America saw a boom in interest in learning and playing cricket across various regions. Today more than 5,000 kids play cricket in several areas across the country.
Cricket, since its inception in the 1800s in England, has predominantly been dominated by males. So it was no surprise when CCA started enrolling kids, the majority of kids were also boys. As years passed, it became evident that even girls desired to play the sport. So academies across the country, along with CCA, started enrolling girls.
CCA has now taken a new initiative to promote girls’ cricket further. This year for the first time, a full girls’ team under the banner of CCA will go to the United Kingdom to play in a U-13 all-girls cricket tournament at Kings College, Taunton, during the week of July 23 – 28, 2023. The girls’ team will compete with prestigious County teams like Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Somerset.
“We realize that an International cricket tour for girls is a positive step towards promoting girls’ cricket in the USA and globally. We wish the U-13 girls’ team all the best for the county championship and hope that this tour serves as a stepping stone for many more opportunities for girls’ cricket in the future”, says Hemant and Kinjal Buch, Founders of CCA.
The team will be under the guidance of one of the most experienced coaches, Ms. Rajeshwari Dholakia Antani, an ex-India Test and World Cup player. “I feel honored and privileged to be appointed coach of this pioneering and trail-blazing U-13 Girls CCA team traveling to the UK.” says coach Rajeshwari, adding, “It has been an incredible journey coaching boys and girls in Houston since 2014, and I am now looking forward to this exciting UK Tour.”
Following the tour, CCA hopes to continue the tradition and one day have their own full girls’ team to compete against other full girls’ teams in various USA regions, producing more and more experienced girl players for USA girls’ cricket.
Follow CCA on: facebook.com/calcricket, twitter – @cca_calcricket, and on Instagram – @cca_calcricket