Cricket is the new soccer in I-270 corridor, MoCo officials say

"[C]ricket today in the United States is where soccer was thirty years ago," a Montgomery County Department of Parks memo to the County Planning Board says, in making a request that the body approve the dedication of two cricket fields in the Interstate 270 corridor. The memo argues the sport, invented in England around the 16th century, is growing in popularity among residents and the world. "It is estimated that the World Cup of Cricket will be watched by over 1 billion people," it predicts.

The department is asking for the fields to be constructed at southwest corner of Schaeffer Road and Burdette Lane in the South Germantown Recreational Park, and at the corner of Skylark Road and Piedmont Road at Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park in Clarksburg. Should the latter site not become available to Parks, the department suggests locating the second field at South Germantown, as well.

Should the fields be approved at this Thursday's board meeting, Parks says it will fund the first in its FY-2017-22 Capital Improvements Program budget. The department is also hoping to construct two cricket fields in the eastern part of the county, and says additional fields could be needed in the I-270 corridor.

Planning staff are recommending approval of the requests.