Suri's elder son displays distinctly baseball-like swagger as he smacks balls deep into the park.

The slogan on the side of Suri's cap reads, "A Different Brand of Baseball." And the same could be said of the game his sons were playing—cricket.

Suri, a volunteer coach, and his sons are part of novel grassroots efforts to introduce cricket to children in Sunnyvale, Cupertino and other communities. Suri's sons and their teammates are members of the California Cricket Academy, the only youth cricket program in the Bay Area.

"It's an excellent way to identify with their culture," Suri said.

Academy founder Hemant Buch agrees. The Cupertino resident and native of India started the academy last year because he said it's a great team game and a good way to get kids off of the video games. He said, "It helps bring together father and sons, and connect kids with their heritage."

For most of the players, this heritage is primarily south Asian, especially Indian. In India, cricket—a legacy of British colonization—is a national pastime.

"It's a big thing there, like a religion," Buch said.

Buch hopes the sport will reconnect academy players with this pastime and their homelands. He also wants to provide broader future athletic opportunities for them. "A lot of these guys don't grow big," he said, "so they won't be able to play soccer or baseball when they get into their teens."

"They don't stand a chance to play baseball or basketball," said his wife, Kinjal Buch, and mother of two academy players. "Cricket doesn't have physical limitations. It's also a lot more technical than other sports, with its bowling and batting techniques."

"There is more directional control," agreed Mahesh Nihalani. Nihalani was able to secure hard to get playing fields.

Academy players share Nihalani's enthusiasm for cricket. "I play it a lot," said the Buch's six-year-old son, Mahok, at practice last week outside of Sedgwick School in Cupertino. "It's fun."

In fact the academy is popular enough to field roughly 100 players in two divisions—one for those 10 and under and one for middle and high school students. Both programs provide coaching with part-time professionals during the week and games on the weekend. Monthly membership fees and sponsorship from a few local businesses fund the academy. The interest has extended to local high schools too, with several offering cricket clubs.

"It's a real platform for a broad cross-section of the South Bay," said volunteer coach Suri. "It's pretty easy to correlate with baseball." Baseball counts cricket as one of its athletic ancestors.

According to Suri, professional cricket players pitch—or bowl—at baseball-like speeds too—an average of 96-97 miles per hour, with the fastest above 100 miles per hour. "Baseball gives him the feel," Suri says.

"It's more fun than baseball, though," says eighth-grader Naveet Waraich. "It's more involved because you get to bat and bowl. In baseball, pitchers don't bat."

Buch hopes this enthusiasm will spread. So far, academy players live all over the South Bay and generally have Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Australian or British family backgrounds. There are no Caucasian-American players. "We love to encourage it," Buch said. "It's a nice game and we want all of the community's kids to come and play."

For more information on the California Cricket Academy visit, www.calcricket.org, or call 408.777.9983.