The World Cup is under way, and Americans are getting a taste of the rest of the world’s passion for soccer – or football, as it’s known outside of the U.S.

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But soccer is not the only international sport that is gaining recognition in the U.S. Cricket is a hugely popular sport all over the world, and despite being relatively unknown to most Americans, it is steadily gaining popularity in the United States, and making its mark here in Chicago, as well.

Every cricket season, which runs from May to October, budding cricketers from all over the Chicago area come to the community park in Hanover Park to take part in the Abid Laheri Memorial Tournament.

Last week, Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig served as the guest of honor at the tournament opener.

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“The game of cricket has taken a huge leap forward in the Midwest and there’s no looking back,” Craig told a group of about 100 spectators.

The Midwest Cricket Conference was founded in 1965 and hosts the tournament, which was named in honor of a Chicago cricketer who died playing the game he loved.

“Abid Laheri was a gentleman who used to play cricket in our league,” says Shekhs Aravind, the Midwest Cricket Conference president.  “Unfortunately, Mr. Laheri passed away playing cricket in this ground.  And we named this tournament after him.”

Today the Midwest Cricket Conference is the largest cricket league in the United States Cricket Association.

The league has grown from 12 teams in 1995 to 68 teams in the 2010 season.

The game of cricket originated in England hundreds of years ago, and has some similarities to baseball. But instead of a straight head-on pitch, the hard leather ball is thrown or “bowled” with a winding overhand toss.

“Here the ball bounces and then the batsman has to knock the ball however far the batsman or batter can,” explains Aravind.

Sitting behind the batsman is a wicket or “stumps,” as they are called, made of three wooden sticks that must be protected from the ball.

Runs can be earned in a variety of ways.  Running between the two bases or “creases” earns one point per run. Hitting the ball in the air and outside the playing field’s boundary counts as six runs, and grounding the ball up to or past the boundary counts as four runs

Just as in baseball, a pop fly caught by a fielder of the opposite team renders the batsman out.

And while at its core cricket involves pitching, batting, outs, and runs, the similarities to baseball end there.

Sridher Jagath of Naperville runs Midwest Cricket’s Youth Academy and explains just one of the many other ways in which a batsman can be called out.

“When he hits the ball into the ground and when the batsman is running to and fro – the fielder collects the ball and hits the stumps before he can reach the base.  The white line – front line is the base.  So he has to be inside the line to be safe.  So if he fails to reach the line and it [the ball] hits the stumps, it’s run out.”

It can sound a bit confusing and complicated. And the game has struggled to gain popularity in the States for other reasons, including the fact that the traditional format of cricket known as the test match lasts a full five days and doesn’t always produce a clear winner.

A newer shorter version of game called the 2020 format could be the key to unlocking cricket’s success in the U.S.

“It’s probably the silver bullet in a way,” says cricket umpire Sadiq Yusuf.   “In America, the 5-day game isn’t going to fly.  Some of us purists still love it, but what you need is a result and you need it fairly quickly,” he says.

And with a shortened playing time of approximately three hours, it’s undoubtedly more accessible and less time consuming.

“This is an exciting form of cricket. There are a lot of shots played.  There’s a lot of athleticism involved.”

Last month, an international cricket match was played on U.S. soil for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Shekhs Aravind says he hopes tournaments and the promotion of youth cricket in academies, schools, and park districts will pique interest and help grow the crowds here in the Midwest and around the country.

“This is what is going to be appealing for Americans. And I believe it’s going to catch on very soon and it’s going to be very popular.  It will take a few years, but it’s going to be very popular.”