NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA (APRIL 8, 2008) REUTERS-

From a distance these New York City School kids could be playing a
game of baseball.
    But close up its a different story. Crisp white uniforms, wickets and a
lack of mitts show they're actually playing a game of cricket.
    Trinidad native John Mitchell, captain of Automative High School, is
thrilled to have a sport he is comfortable playing.
    "I asked them if we could have a cricket team because I heard they
made it a PSAL (Public Schools Athletic League) sport now so I got all the
names of all the people that wanted to play and here we are today,"
Mitchell told Reuters.
    Mitchell's team is competing in a high school cricket league, after New
York this spring became the first U.S. school district to introduce cricket as
a varsity sport in public schools.
    Calcutta born Sohom Dutta who attends the highly rated, Stuyvesant
school in New York.
    "Its just part of who I am and just what I do, I don't look at it
as a connect or anything, its just what I do."
    Organizers were stunned when 14 teams with over 600 high school
students signed up,  facing off to a championship in late May.
    Bassett Thompson, cricket commissioner of the Public Schools Athletic
League.
    "We're not going to replace basketball and football anytime soon,
but it will spill over" .
    "They're so excited just to play," said Thompson. "In
five years its going to be one of the most  popular sports in
America."
    American teenager Angus Armstrong, who's interest was piqued by his
South Asian colleagues, has been playing cricket for around three years at his
school.
    "There's an entire international community out there that so many
Americans don't know about and I thought that entering that international
community myself to see what's it like would be fascinating," he
said.
    Eric Goldstein is a senior New York City Education official.
    "You will see the interest from American kids because one thing
you will see is they are incredibly enthusiastic and that enthusiasm is
contagious, " said Goldstein.
    While the game has a long way to go in America, the new cricket league
has created inroads into a sporting culture that has thus far been dominated
by baseball and football.