How the second-most popular sport in the world is getting a home in Modesto

Across Modesto’s city parks are amenities including basketball and pickleball courts, baseball/softball fields and horseshoe pits. Soon, Mary E. Grogan Community Park will add to that list something no other park in the city has: a cricket pitch.

Grogan Park, best known for its soccer complex, opened in 2013. The cricket pitch is part of the park’s second phase, a nine-acre expansion expected to be done by fall.

“It’s great to be able to add another sport and a popular sport worldwide to our park system, and hopefully people will use and enjoy using it,” said Nathan Houx, Modesto’s parks planning and development manager.

Among those certain to enjoy using the pitch are the Modesto Maharanas. For many of the players in the cricket club, the sport has played a significant role in their upbringing.

Amin Vohra, who’s also on the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment, first played the sport early in his life when he resided in Bombay, now called Mumbai, India.

At 9 years old, his family moved to Modesto. Following high school, Vohra attended San Jose State. During his time in college, his passion for the sport ignited when he was involved with the Mountain House Cricket Club, a recreational league.

When he moved back to his hometown, Vohra realized there wasn’t an area in Modesto with a cricket pitch. This led him to work with members of the Maharanas to pursue the idea.

“It’s definitely been a journey. It’s been a teaching lesson at times, just to kind of educate people on what cricket is about,” Vohra said. “It’s been fun, so to speak, going through the hoops and challenges in making this dream a reality.”

He was one of the main advocates for the development. The idea jump-started when he reached out to City Councilmember Jenny Kenoyer in 2019. Kenoyer attended the team’s night match at Davis Community Park’s baseball field.

Rohan Shah is another team member who advocated for the pitch to be built. He and his brother, Nishil Shah, grew up in India and brought their interest in the sport to Modesto when their family moved here in 2006. One of Rohan Shah’s vivid memories is bringing the cricket equipment during the move to the United States. For him, this was a long time coming.

“Nathan [Houx] was the person who we proposed it to, and he was interested, and he was saying it would be nice for our community to have some different kind of a sport,” Rohan Shah said, “It took some time, about five or six years, to get there, but eventually, we finally got the [groundwork].”

During a meeting with Houx, members of the Maharanas spoke about the importance of cricket and its significance in the area. Video highlights of the sport were played during the meeting.

Houx was surprised to learn how beloved cricket is internationally (according to AP and other sources, the sport is second only to soccer in worldwide popularity) and that matches can last for a couple of days.

“The most interesting thing that he [Vohra] said … there are games that can go for like 24 hours, like eight hours a day,” Houx said. “I’m like, ‘How’s that even possible? And who’s watching that?’”

The game, the team and its league

Cricket is often compared to “America’s pastime,” baseball. In fact, both sports were inspired by a common English children’s game, rounders, which dates back to the Tudor period (1485-1603), according to Headbangersports.com.

In both sports, there are bats and balls and pitchers (called bowlers in cricket). Batters run to score points, while players on defense try to get the ball. Getting deeper into the game of cricket is an article itself — even the subject of many books.

The games are similar enough that in the absence of cricket pitches, players often use baseball diamonds. Nearly a decade ago, Rohan Shah and Prakash Sojitra played matches with friends at the baseball field in Modesto’s Coleman F. Brown Park and elsewhere.

These bonding activities led Sojitra and Shah to form the Modesto Maharanas. They registered the team in the San Ramon Cricket Association, in which they played for a couple of years. The team moved to the Mountain House Cricket Club League in 2018.

According to the Mountain House Cricket Club website, the league is made up of 37 teams. Most of the teams are based in Mountain House and Tracy.

Rohan Shah said he hopes the visibility the pitch at Grogan Park gives the sport leads to more interest by local residents. “We have full support from the team, family and other people from the city so that we can promote cricket in Modesto or nearby cities,” he said.

City of Modesto spokesperson Cameron Cramer stated in an email to The Bee that once the pitch is available for public use, residents can make reservations in person, on the phone or by completing a Park and Facility Rental Application on the city’s website.

This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 9:55 AM.