The cricket field now being placed at Doxey Park in north Manteca is more than just an additional recreation opportunity.

It also about Manteca — new and old — growing together as a community,

The same is true of the disc golf course the city required a developer to install as part of the amenities of the Tara Ranch Park in south Manteca.

“We (the city) wanted to make sure that the older parts of Manteca are getting newer recreation amenities,” Mayor Gary Singh said.

In the coming year besides the cricket field at Doxey Park it will include:

*solar lighting for the Center Street pickleball/tennis courts.

*adding a skate park next to the BMX track at Spreckels Avenue and Moffat Boulevard.

*a community garden in central Manteca.

*solar lighting for the community basketball courts at Woodward Community Park.

*an inclusive sensory playground at Northgate Park.

*two dog wash stations — one at the dog park at the Manteca Civic Center and the other at Woodward Community Park.

*an interactive water play feature at Woodward Community Park.

Equally important, from the perspective of elected and senior city management, is placing additional recreational amenities the city currently doesn’t have as developers put in new neighborhood parks.

In doing so, they hope to encourage residents to go outside of their neighborhoods and set patterns to use what will likely be one-of-a-kind recreational amenities.

Not only would that take them to different parts of the community but it would increase the likelihood of interacting with other people in Manteca.

For example, if you want to play disc golf, you would travel to the Tara Ranch Park in southwest Manteca and if you wanted to play cricket, you’d travel to Doxey Park in northwest Manteca.

Some of the newer neighborhood parks south of the 120 Bypass have exercise and climbing stations.

One will have a picnic area suitable for block parties along with restrooms. And other will have what would be the city’s second dog park.

Growing interest in

the sport of cricket

Cricket — the world’s No. 2 participatory sport behind soccer — is coming to Manteca thanks to a decision by City Councilman Mike Morowit to earmark $70,000 of $450,000 in federal COVID relief funds he was tasked with allocating..

And four years from now, it will be part of the Olympics for the first time ever when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Games.

The cricket field with regulation lines will be placed at Doxey Park — a larger neighborhood park northwest of Louise Avenue and Union Road — that already has a soccer field that will continue to be used.

Morowit, in advancing the field, noted a lot of newcomers to Manteca have been requesting the city add a cricket field.

The councilman has said when people move to Manteca from the Bay Area  they’re not just buying a house but they want amenities and good schools.

As such, Morowit believes the cricket field will serve Manteca’s growing and diverse population and provide more opportunities to bring the overall community together.

Cricket could well end up like soccer did in Manteca.

Three decades ago, soccer was almost non-existent. Today, it is the biggest recreational sport in Manteca followed by baseball and softball.

Lathrop already has two cricket fields — one at Mossdale Landing Park and the other at the park area adjacent to STEAM Academy on River Islands.

There are also cricket fields in Stockton and Lodi.

Cricket as a sport doesn’t enjoy the same popularity in America as it does elsewhere. The United States doesn’t even crack the Top 25 countries for the sport.

The sport is most popular in India followed by Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Jamica, and Afghanistan.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabuletin.com