The wickets are loaded, the batter is up, the bowler is winding up for the throw. No, this is not a new form of bowling or some strange baseball lingo. This is cricket, a sport originally from Britain that has gotten millions of people worldwide to pick up a bat and give it a swing. Cricket is a sport that does not get very much media coverage in the United States, especially at the high school level, due to the fact that there are not many high school cricket teams in the area.

However, despite all of this, AHS senior and cricket player Waleed Karimullah made the U-19 U.S. Cricket Team, a team that just recently traveled to Florida and won the ICC Americas U-19 Division One championship, commonly known as the America’s Cup.

Karimullah has been playing since he was nine years old.

“My dad taught me how to play, he was basically my coach,” Karimullah said.

Considering that there is no official high school cricket team at AHS, Karimullah had to find his own means of practice and improvement.

“I would just play around with my friends, but I do wish the school had a cricket team,” Karimullah said.

He previously played on the AHS baseball team, but could not do so this year due to his cricket commitments. Karimullah was invited to the tryouts for the U.S. team after entering a tournament in which he was noticed by the U.S. team’s coach. After impressing the coaches at the tryouts in January, he officially became a member of the U.S. U-19 Team.

From Feb. 5-13, Karimullah and his teammates had the opportunity to go to Florida to compete against teams from all over the world for the America’s Cup. While the opportunity was great, the work was hard and the competition was tough. Hard work is a key component for the team so that they can prepare for the competition they face from all over the world. For the America’s Cup in Florida, the coaches worked the players rigorously.

“We would practice before and after our games, every day; it was very tough,” Karimullah said.

The team has two coaches, a manager and a physical trainer, to help them throughout their tournaments. The hard work paid off in the end with the team winning the America’s Cup, after defeating Argentina, the Cayman Islands and U.S. cricket rival, Canada. The team won by getting the most runs, which are scored when a batter runs safely between the two wickets on the field. Karimullah shows his dedication to the sport of cricket every day, practicing and committing to his team even with the tough travel the sport requires.

“I have to travel to New York and New Jersey for practices. It is difficult sometimes, but worth it,” Karimullah said.

He is the only player on the team from Virginia, so he has to travel farther than most.

“We will be starting practices soon in Burke though, which will be nice,” Karimullah said.

The team will be traveling to Ireland for the 2011 U-19 World Cup Global Qualifier on July 28 through August 9. Let’s hope the hard work continues to pay off for the team in Ireland, in hopes of qualifying for the ICC U-19 World Cup.