The interest in the youth cricket programs offered in Bowie took off last year and shows no signs of slowing down, according to Kancham Chotoo, the man largely responsible for introducing the game to local schoolchildren.
"We can get as big as the amount of volunteers we get," he said. "We want to keep expanding, but we don't want to expand so quickly that the program has growing pains."
Turnout in Bowie's elementary school cricket league this year was up about 10 percent over last season, with 205 players participating on 14 teams, including a pair of squads from Anne Arundel County that participated in 2016.
In 2015, the Bowie league featured a dozen teams — all in Prince George's County — and 183 players.
There was a marked increase in middle school participation, which last year featured only four teams and 63 players, all from Prince George's County. This year, participation more than doubled, with 131 players in all on nine teams — including one from Howard County.
Chotoo believes the program could include 400 kids next year; schools from Montgomery County have expressed interest in joining in.
"Parents are eager to find a new sport for their child to play," he said. "A lot of parents are tired of football, baseball and soccer and they're looking for something new and different. I think the kids really enjoy playing cricket and once the parents see that, they get sold on the sport and get eager to volunteer and see the programs succeed."
Chotoo also believes that the diversity in the Washington area is one of the reasons the sport has taken hold. Even if people don't come from a culture that embraces cricket, they may come from a culture that doesn't automatically herd children toward baseball, football or soccer.
"I think that has something to do with it," he said. "The Washington, D.C. area as a whole is culturally and ethnically diverse. You have a lot of people from different countries living here and people are more used to seeing (cricket). We have a lot of American parent volunteers and we also have (cricket) experts to tap into."
But perhaps the biggest reason the game has grown so quickly is Chotoo himself.
The Bowie resident grew up with the game in his native Trinidad and Tobago and started an informal youth summer cricket program with the Bowie Boys & Girls Club in 2012. He believed that in order to get the game to take hold locally, someone had to get kids involved at the elementary school level.
That someone was him. He began visiting physical education classes at various schools around Bowie and teaching youngsters the game, using equipment donated by the United States Youth Cricket organization. Those efforts to grow the sport appear to be paying off now.
"He's a whirlwind," said Jamie Harrison, president of the Maryland Youth Cricket Association. "He's a machine. He's really been doing a tremendous job there in Bowie and he's working hard and getting (cricket) spread to Howard County and Montgomery. He's a force unto himself."