Harlem Cricket

One sport almost untouched by the war is Harlem's colored cricket. Last week the slim, supple bowlers and batsmen of the two big leagues, the New York and the Cosmopolitan, were out for spring practice in the vast green reaches of Van Cortlandt Park.

Most of the players and onlookers are West Indians. There are ten eleven-man teams in the New York League, six in the Cosmopolitan. After a summer's play in Van Cortlandt Park, a "world series" is held between the leagues in the Randalls Island Stadium.

New York-Cosmopolitan cricket has something of the quietly gala atmosphere of matches at Lord's in London. The teams (bearing such names as Grenada, Windsor, Trinidad) disport their flannels, blazers and visored beanies against a background of picture hats and parasols. The crowd's applause almost never rises above a musical murmur. Between innings, there is a tea interval.

The equipment is British-made, and the best. A bat costs $18. Batting gloves are $5 a pair, kneepads $10. The ball costs $5. Because the fields are not surfaced for cricket, each team has to bring its own 20-yd.-long fiber mat ($75 apiece) to cover the pitch (bowling area). The supply of balls is running low, but a shipment from Britain is expected to ease the situation.

Royal Exiles. War has spared the sport because it is by no means a young man's game. The best batsman in the leagues is Cliff Daly, a real-estate salesman in his 40s. The best wicketkeeper is probably Evans Hackett, nearing 50. One of the star all-round players is Edmund Holder, an elevator man in his 50s. War did, however, take the top bowler, Roy Huggins. A former shipping clerk, he is one of twelve Negroes now working for a commission at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

Huggins bowled for the Trinidad Club, the present holder of the championship , cup. An all-round dependable of the Trinidad team is Joseph Cameron, who with Hackett and Holder was among the pioneers of Harlem cricket some 30 years ago. Cameron and his brother Henry, operators of an employment agency, are also leaders in the socially desirable Royal Exiles cricket club, which is not in the leagues.

The Royal Exiles are a group of 24 Harlem businessmen who play for relaxation, occasionally travel to Boston, Newark and Philadelphia to engage other amateur clubs. The Camerons keep open house for the cricket elect at their place of business. Photographs of noted players cover the walls; on display is the Trinidad trophy cup; in a billiard room are kept the wickets, bats and balls; there or in the yard at the rear, the Royal Exiles foregather to practice batting strokes and exchange the news of the cricket world.

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