Cricket, American-style!

Stars, Stripes and Stumps makes not only for a catchy title but truly summarizes what the blog is all about. Remember the time one of your several cousins/relatives settled in the U.S lamented about the thing they missed the most, only next to Indian food? (Gully cricket, if you can't guess)

If, as Barack Obama says, the India - U.S partnership is to be the 'defining partnership' of the 21st century, I can't see it happening without cricket playing a role. No, seriously. It might be a good idea to keep track of what is happening in the U.S cricket arena (there is such a thing) with the help of this blog.

'Chuckworthy' and Samarth Shah are the two Indian contributors to this blog, while Peter Della Penna is an Italian-American who plays club cricket and has to clarify that 'he honestly is not from, or related to anyone from, Australia, England, New Zealand or South Africa.'

Now you sort of get an idea of what to expect. The three contributors write with great humour and wit as they give us a peek into the several cricket clubs in the U.S, the Indian diaspora that is part of it, the American attitude towards cricket and so on. Sample this excerpt from Peter Della Penna's post Batting for Baseball:

Cricket fan: No, cricket is the best!

Baseball fan: Actually, baseball is. The New York Yankees have won the World Series 27 times and they’re the most recognizable sports franchise brand in the world.

Cricket fan: No, cricket is! Because Sachin Tendulkar plays cricket and he is God!

Baseball fan: Well then how come I’ve never seen him anywhere on television?

Cricket fan: Um… er… because all TV networks in America are run by atheists!

This is a young blog that began only in October this year and is markedly different from many other cricket blogs because of the geographical area it deals with. Going by the quality of the posts and the enjoyable style they are written in, it is worth keeping an eye on the chronicles of the world's oldest democracy embracing a sport that the people of the world's largest democracy have been in love with.