The cheers of the crowd and the sound of wooden bats hitting balls filled the air this weekend as a two-day cricket tournament attracted dozens of players to Manchester’s Prout Park.

Organizers and players say the sport – which has a huge following in South Asia and other parts of the world – is beginning to take hold in New Hampshire’s largest city.

“I see cricket growing and more and more people coming together and participating in tournaments,” said Kamal Maharjan of Nashua, who plays for the Manchester Cricket Club. “And hopefully next year will be even bigger than this one.”

Maharjan grew up playing the sport in Nepal, but when he moved to the U.S., he saw no opportunities to continue playing, so he’s happy to see the sport growing in popularity in New Hampshire.

“It’s a great feeling, you know, when you love something and see it flourishing before your eyes,” he said.

Manchester now has four organised cricket teams, Maharjan said. In addition to its own MCC, which was formed in 2022, there are Sherpa United, Kaizen and Murraa Brothers. This weekend they competed against four teams from Boston and one from Worcester, Massachusetts.

Cricket is similar to baseball in some ways. One team throws the ball to a batsman from another team. The batsman and a teammate then run back and forth between two wickets, which are three posts stuck into the ground with two smaller poles resting on top.

On Saturday afternoon, players dressed in red Murraa Brothers jerseys fanned out across the park’s baseball field. One player bowled to a Boston All Stars batsman wearing green jerseys. The batsman swatted at the ball as it bounced off the ground. Every time the ball flew through the air, shouts of “Catch it!” rang out. Dozens of spectators cheered as the ball cleared a marked boundary — the cricket equivalent of a home run, worth six runs.

Other teams watched from tents or sat in the shade at the edge of the field. A food stall from the local Nepalese restaurant Dancing Yeti served Momos – The best momos and chow mein for lunch.

The tournament offered cash prizes for the top two teams. Organisers said Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais was there on Saturday morning to open the event.

Manish Humagain, captain of Manchester Cricket Club, helped organize this weekend’s New Hampshire Cricket Tournament. It is the second tournament they are hosting, after one in 2022. He hopes to make it an annual event.

“It’s a beautiful sport,” he said. “Cricket brings people together – sport in general, you know.”

Humagain said cricket is “like a religion” in his home country of Nepal. There is an established cricket league in Massachusetts, but he wants to get more people involved in the sport in New Hampshire.

“That’s our goal,” he said. “To bring other teams from out of state as well. And that’s slowly happening. I’m really excited and looking forward to it.”

There is no reason why the sport cannot spread in the United States, he said. After all, he noted, first international cricket match took place in 1844 between the USA and Canada.

Naran Gurung was also pleased with the rise of the sport in Manchester, where he has lived for over 12 years.

“We play here for friendship,” he said. “We encourage all young people to just play anything that is sport.”

Watching his Murraa Brothers teammates play, Gurung said that this baseball ground was not ideal for cricket – the ball did not fly properly because the grass was too long. He would like to see the city build a proper cricket ground.

“We met the mayor of Manchester this morning and talked about it, but I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe they’re thinking about it.”