Troy cricket field funded in 2024 state budget

TROY — A new cricket field will be coming to Troy, thanks to $900,000 in funding included in Michigan’s 2024 state budget, which was approved June 28.

The field will be going into Raintree Park, at 3775 John R Road. Vinodh Mudaliar is president of the Michigan Youth Cricket Academy. He has been among the leaders in the community supporting this project.

“I’ve been pushing for this for a year and a half,” said Mudaliar. “We’ve talked about a plan for a cricket field. It wasn’t a top topic for most people, but in April, I personally wrote up a petition and proposal and gave it to the City Council, mayor and Public Works Department asking for a field and batting cages. I included census data about how the city population is going and that this sport is very popular in terms of where its demographics are heading.”

Rep. Sharon MacDonell, whose district in the Michigan House of Representatives includes Troy, said this was a task she knew was a priority project among the community when she was elected.

“I was very aware of this for years,” she said. “I moved here in 2005 with my family. My family includes our two daughters, who we adopted from China, so we intentionally moved here for the diversity, which includes the large Asian community here. We were aware of people in the South Asian community asking for this. We thought that if we couldn’t get this, they might not feel welcome in this community.”

Cricket is especially popular among families hailing from India and other South Asian countries, a demographic which has grown significantly in Troy in recent decades.

“This is a sport that is dominant in South Asian countries. India, South Africa, Australia all have huge cricket followings,” Mudaliar said. “You don’t see South Asian people living here taking part in a lot of sports here, so this will provide something in the community that they love.”

“Cricket is a huge part of the culture all over the world. In a lot of countries, it’s bigger than soccer,” added Troy resident Sadek Rahman, who manages a local team. “When many South Asians started settling in Troy about 20 years ago, the lack of a cricket field made it hard for us to share this part of our culture with our children. Now this will no longer be an obstacle.”

While there are dozens of cricket clubs and leagues for both youth and adults throughout metro Detroit, there are few fields specifically designed for the sport, and most teams and clubs have to use baseball fields instead.

Mudaliar said that this scarcity could bring business into Troy as teams and clubs will likely want to use the city’s fields for matches and tournaments.

“This is going to be a full-size field so that means that any tournament that is held for cricket can be held here, so it will bring people into the city,” he explained. “It will let us host events where people come to eat at restaurants and stay at hotels in Troy. The field can be rented, so it will self-sustain, in terms of cost. It also is another resource for people in the community to play outside and interact in an enjoyable way. … Adding the four batting cages also will be a great resource for other sports as well, such as baseball or lacrosse.”

Finding the funding for the field was described as a team effort.

“Every year, we are asked to find important tasks in our community,” said MacDonell. “It was Mark Miller, the city manager in Troy, who suggested this as a project in Troy. Ann Erickson Gault really kept it going at the city level. I want people to know that people in the local government really do care about this project, but it was always a matter of finding the money.”

“It was a great effort by a lot of people,” remarked Mudaliar. “(Troy) Mayor Ethan Baker was very receptive, Councilwoman Ann Erickson Gault has attended and taken part in a lot of cricket events in the past, Public Works Director Kurt Bovensiep put in the work to measure the dimensions needed for the field and came up with plans. Rep. MacDonell was very helpful in getting the money needed to move forward.”

The field is expected to be built in 2024.

“Thankfully, at my level, it wasn’t terribly difficult,” MacDonell said. “We just had to make a big, final push for it. I contacted people involved for over 20 years looking for this. I sent a lot of emails to the chair of appropriations.”