Our Town Fort Oglethorpe Ringgold: Cricket

It was the national sport of England at the end of the 18th Century.

Today the game of Cricket is being played all around the world, and in parts of the U.S.

The baseball-like sport is gaining popularity in Fort Oglethorpe but not without some controversy.

P. J. Patel, "It's a really nice game. We love it.">

If you look closely you might recognize a great American past time.

P. J. Patel, "What you're trying to do you're trying to get as many run as you can for the team."

But it's not baseball, it's Cricket.

And they're playing it in Fort Oglethorpe on Bernhardt Circle.

 Mayor Ronnie Cobb, "It's no different from when soccer came from Mexico to the United States. The people didn't understand it but it's caught on and near 30 years later it's one of the major sports in the United States."

Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb believes the same thing will happen with Cricket.

That's why four years ago City Council agreed to allow a cricket pitch to be built on the Circle.

Cobb, "It's an economic thing too. Soccer brings in money. You have big tournaments and leagues and this will bring money into the city too eventually."

And it didn't cost the City a penny.

Harry Patel paid for the Cricket Pitch...a 30 foot piece of concrete that's flush to the ground.

Harry Patel, "We used to play in India the cricket. It's a regular game in the school and college and everything once we come here do business also we're looking to do something play on the weekends."

But the location has some residents crying foul...

Mayor Cobb, I've heard complaints about it."

Filing a law suit that the pitch is an obstruction and violation of the Bernhardt Circle deed.

The Mayor says it fits the recreation use.

"It hadn't gone to court yet. It's in the process of being litigated," he says.

He adds the unfamiliarity of the game and the people playing it worries some folks.

"We all came from another country some time or another and we brought things with us then that's caught on in the United States," says Mayor Cobb."It's not anything that's going to hurt the citizens of Forth Oglethorpe. Eventually as it draws more people it will help," he says.

Meantime Cricket enthusiasts invite everyone to come to a match

P.J. Patel, "It's pretty straight forward game. It's pretty interesting if you get into it."

Cricket is also played in Chattanooga, Dalton and Ringgold.

Thursday we have a history lesson for you.

We all know about the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

But there is other civil war history in Catoosa county.

Ringgold was the first town burned in Sherman's March to the Sea.

And the Great Locomotive Chase ended there.

That's Thursday's Our Town Fort Oglethorpe and Ringgold.