Members of the Scranton Strikers cricket team gather daily at 5:30 p.m. at Chic Feldman Field for practice.
They share the field with baseball players, whom the sports field there was technically built for, and have been juggling availability of the space for several years, said Chai Patel, the unofficial team manager who plays the all rounder position for the Scranton-based outfit.
Several years ago, some team members had an idea — why not ask Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti if the city would build an official cricket pitch there?
Patel and another team mate, Sammy Lalkiya, put together a proposal for the city, and Tuesday, a request for proposals was released on the city’s e-Procurement Portal. A question submission deadline is scheduled for May 9 at 4:30 p.m., with the submission deadline set for May 15 at 9:30 a.m.
An aerial view of Chic Feldman Field in Scranton Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
AK Patel practices cricket at Chic Feldman Field and Playground in Scranton Tuesday night. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Chai Patel practices cricket at Chic Feldman Field and Playground in Scranton Tuesday night. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
The City’s Request For Proposals seeking a builder for a new cricket pitch at the Chic Feldman Baseball Field shows a graphic depicting the size and location of the new development. (Image from Scranton Bid Documents / Submitted)
Chai Patel, an all rounder on the Scranton Strikers cricket team, is one of the main forces behind a new designated cricket field built at Chic Feldman Field in Scranton. (Scranton Cricket Club / Submitted)
Sammy Lalkiya, a local business owner and an all rounder on the Scranton Strikers cricket team, is instrumental to the creation of a new designated cricket field being built at Chic Feldman Field in Scranton. (Sammy Lalkiya / Submitted)
The Marylebone Cricket Club, a former governing body of cricket in London, England, presents a law stating that the regulation length of a cricket pitch is around 66 feet in length and 10 feet in width. Patel said 66 feet in length sounds about right for their needs.
Chris Hughes, the communications director for the city, said the mayor was enthusiastic about the field.
“I know she’s very passionate about this project,” he told The Times-Tribune by phone.
The field, located in Pine Brook, has been on the city’s radar for rejuvenation.
The Times-Tribune reported that it had the “second-worst condition of the city’s 30 park facilities,” citing issues including “ponds of standing water,” holes in the grass outfield, “damaged bleachers” with “jagged posts,” and a bedraggled playground set “held together with duct tape.”
Patel, who moved to Scranton in 2005, began playing cricket in 2007 or 2008.
“We didn’t have a cricket field,” he said. Yet, he saw the cricket scene in Scranton growing “day by day.” In 2022, an annual cricket tournament in Scranton began to take shape at McDade Park. The first year, there were three teams entered. The second year, there were five.
“Last year, we had six,” Patel said.
An aerial view of Chic Feldman Field in Scranton Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
He expressed feeling grateful to Cognetti for the new pitch.
“We are getting a cricket field thanks to our mayor, now,” Patel said. “She helped us to build it.”
Patel explained that the move follows similar initiatives that have taken place in Kingston and Allentown, where mayors and cricket teams worked in unison to build cricket fields. Scranton’s “real cricket field” will allow invitations to teams from outside the immediate area to come play in Scranton.
“We couldn’t invite any teams besides the northeast,” Patel said. “But now, we are planning to do that as well, as soon as this field area is done.”
The move may serve as a low-key strategic one, providing long-term economical and community benefits for the region as the sport continues to grow in America.
In October 2023, The New York Times reported that media companies “have invested heavily in cricket in recent years,” with ESPN regularly streaming games. The story further commented on the “rabid” and “loyal and growing” fanbase of the sport in the United States, and cited more than $1 billion spent by investors to expand the sport in the U.S., with its inclusion slated for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the first time in over 100 years.
The pitch, according to Patel, is designated specifically for men’s cricket tournaments, adding that opportunities for women to play exist in New Jersey, but not yet in this area. He explained that women’s regulation cricket pitches are “a little bit smaller.”
Patel, who works as a senior buyer for an Olyphant company that manufactures skin care and makeup products said the teams are not privately owned, and that he takes on many of the duties for the Scranton Cricket Club by choice, such as finding sponsors and managing his team’s needs.
Patel says he understands the project will be completed before June from park officials.
Lalkiya, 26, a local business owner who has been playing cricket since he was 10 years old, said that he was also informed that the field would be completed within a similar timeframe, adding the project will also include a 10 foot by 10 foot shade to store the cricket turf, which should not get wet.
He said the mayor regularly attends events in the Indian community, which is how Lalkiya developed communications with her and thought she might be willing to support the idea for a new cricket field.
“She is a very good mayor,” Lalkiya said of Cognetti. “She helps everybody.”
He said he anticipates that the games held there will be free to watch and will charge a fee to visiting teams in the amount of around $100 to $150 to play there “for the whole year,” which will cover food and drinks for all who attend.