Believe it or not, there is the Philippine Cricket and there are the Philippine crickets.

Cricket the game originated in England, but the date when it was invented is not known , from the 13th century up to the 15th century is the guess, and since England was a great colonial power then, it brought the game to its various colonies all over the world.

The Philippine crickets meanwhile are not for playing, Filipinos are known for some uniquely exotic tastes in food, common only in a few countries , we eat field rats, fruit bats, snakes, snails, frogs, balut, dinuguan, and crickets too.

Ask Kapampangans , chances are, they eat “kamaru” , same with ” aarawan” in Ilocos, these are mole crickets that are stir-fried or made into ” adobo ,” and are even offered in Filipino restaurants.

The main difference between the two is the fact that crickets is a popular game in some parts of the world particularly in Europe while Philippine crickets are popular here as food but cricket has not gained traction as a sport even as its prime mover here, expat businessman Faisal Khan, Vice President for the Philippine Cricket Association says the game is built for Filipinos, no height and weight needed.

In Asia, long time rivals India and Pakistan are both cricket powers and when they meet in a natch, particularly if a World Cup match, live attendance would be around 100,000 fans plus millions watching on television.

I have an Indian friend who planned his travel for a long time , and from here in the Philippines where he is based, he went to Australia just to watch an India-Pakistan game live.

For these two nations, whenever they play, it is like here in the Philippines when Manny Pacquiao was still fighting at his prime, everything stops and everyone just watches the fight on television.

The sport is big and there is already an international federation overseeing it , the International Cricket Council where the Philippines is a member, it was introduced here by the Nomads Club way back before you and me were born, more than a century ago.

It makes its debut in the Olympics in 2028 even as it has been played already in the SEA Games, in fact our women’s team, composed of Hongkong- based OFWs won two silver medals in Cambodia earlier this year.

As part of his campaign to promote cricket in the country and develop local players, Faisal shared his plans for the future.

But before that, he admitted that for our men’s team , it is made up mostly of Fil- foreigners in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe who are gathered together to play as our national team.

Here, the game is played by expatriates but no locals yet, which is why he wants to do a couple of events before the year ends.

Our men’s team is scheduled for one week to go to Indonesia in late December to compete in the Bali Bash International for 6 T20 international matches against the Indonesian national team.

Faisal is looking at this to prepare the team for the 2024 World Cup qualifiers in Korea on September and the SEA Games in Thailand in 2025. He believes the current team is competitive against regional rivals but far behind in the world.

For the women’s side, he is hosting a dual Friendship Cup meet between the Philippines and Singapore from December 26 to 30 this year, This will be a series of three T20 and two T10 matches, same events where we won the 2 silver medals in Cambodia.

Faisal says we are more competitive in the women’s side in the SEA Games because countries are just starting to develop this side.

One drawback is that there is no standard sized cricket field here, it is much bigger than a football field and the Association contents itself with using the Emilio Aguinaldo College field in Dasmarinas, Cavite for its grassroots program and training for the women’s team.

Honestly, I still do not understand the nuances and rules of the game, and maybe I should take up Faisal’s invitation to go to Cavite one of these days to watch , then if I cover the women’s dual meet with Singapore on December, I have a better understanding of the game.

Also, how far the sport can go in attracting local talents, I still do not know, maybe Faisal can look more on the women’s side of the sport.